Religious Experience Flashcards
What is a religious experience?
An encounter of the divine, a non-empirical occurrence that brings awareness of something ourselves.
Who describes religious experience as ‘God establishes himself in the interior of this soul in such a way, that when i return to myself, it is wholly impossible for me to doubt that i have been in God and God in me.’
St Teresa of Avila
What is a direct religious experience?
where the experient feels they are in contact with God
What is an indirect experience?
an inner experience of God’s creation
List 3 of the 7 categories of religious experience that Caroline Franks Davis came up with
Regenerative - conversion
mystical - sense of the ultimate reality
revelatory - receiving knowledge through revelation from God
What are corporate experiences?
where a large number of people share the same experience
What does Greeley say are common themes of religious experiences?
feeling of deep, inner peace
emotional intensity
sense of joy
How does Schleiermacher define religious experience
one that offers a sense of the ultimate and an awareness of wholeness, a consciousness of and dependence on the infinite
Who says that God reveals himself to people on a personal level as they experience him in life and in the world through interaction with people and nature. Everyday human relationships are on an I-it level but…..
Buber
serious and more meaningful relationships go much deeper and become I-thou relationships, it is in these which we experience God.
Who says that religious experiences draw on the common range of emotions; happiness, fear and wonder but they are directed at the divine
James
What is James’ quote?
‘God was present in me, he fell not under one of my sense, yet my consciousness perceived him’
What does Dawkins say about religious experience?
they are expressions of a person’s psychological need
‘the argument from religious experience is most convincing to those who claim to have had one. But it is the least convincing to anyone else, especially anyone knowledgeable about psychology’
What does St Teresa of Avila say about her religious experience?
‘i wish i could give a description of at leas the smallest pat of what i learned, but, when i try to discover a way of doing so i find it impossible’
How does Otto describe a conversion experience?
numinous - referring to experience offering evidence of the wholly other nature of God.
what happens in a conversion experience and give an example of one
often a person sees a vision, accompanied by feelings of aw and wonder
e.g. Paul who converted to Christianity and stopped killing Christians.
Hoe does Wesley describe his conversion experience?
‘i felt my heart strangely warmed. i felt i did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation.’
What does Lewis claim about indirect experiences in response to the world?
‘not just a feeling.. but a conviction or insight, a sense that something must be.’
Who does Cole sight in his example of revelatory experience and what does he say?
Benny Hinn - ‘before you leave this stadium tonight, every person in here will receive a fresh flowing of God’s power on your life.’
What are the 2 types of revelatory experience and what are they? Give examples
propositional revelation - God communicates his divine message to a human being. e.g. moses
non-propositional revelation - through religious experience a person comes to realise diivine truth. e.g. Buddha gained enlightenment
What is a near death experience?
when a person dies and is resuscitated and recalls an experience of what happened after they died
What did Moody find in study of near death experiences?
That there were a number of core experiences; feeling of peace, going through a dark tunnel and having to make a decision about crossing a barrier and returning to life
What is a mystical experience?
Sense of unity and communication with the divine, intensely personal and transcendent.