Religious Experience Flashcards
What is religious experience?
when a person believes they have an experience of God or another religious figure - what is common with them is they are an extrordanairy experience
they are viewed as offering a stronger source of knowlege about god
what is william james’ interpretation of religious experience ?
he considered the religious experience to be a distinct class of experience defined by its fruits (outcomes)
an experience could be considered genuinely religious if its effects on a person were seen to be both positive and morally transformatitive
william james have a four fold classification of what an experience looks like:
1) passive
2) ineffable (too great or extreme to be expressed or described in words)
3) noetic (relating to mental activity or the intellect)
4) transient (doesnt last long)
Rudolph Otto
german theologen and philosopher
otto uses the term numen or numinous to describe a sensation that recipients of religious experience feel
numinous is described as being in the presence of something greater than yourself
What are the two aspects of the numinous that otto describes?
1) Mysterium tremendum
- ellement assosiated with the fear and awe of the unknown
2) mysterium fascinans
- associated with feeling of love, mercy and so on
Carolin Franks Davis
she provides a six-fold classification of religious experience in her book the evidential force of religious experience
1) interpretive experiences - the experience is religious by attribution, for example, the recipient is clearly aware that what they are experienceing is something that can be attributed to the divine/God
2) Quasi- sensory - the recipient of the experience may have a physical sensation - hear voice or see vision
3) revelatory experiences - feeling of enlightenment
4) regenerative - goes through change, conversion or renewal of faith
5) numinous - feeling the presence of something greater
6) mystical - feeling of oneness with god, experience is otherworldly
Richard Swinburne
he said there are 5 types of religious experience
- the first 2 are in the public realm, the last 3 are in the private real
1) see god in a public object or scene
2) a breach of natural law - eg jesus turning water to wine
3) a personal experience that can mostly be described through normal language
4) a personal experience that cannot be described in normal language
5) no specific experience but a feel that god is there
what are visions?
a form of revalatory religous experience that gives knowlege about god
there are 3 types:
1) corporeal vision - sees an external figure
- external figure could be a being or merely a brightlight from which the recipitant hears a voice
2) imaginary vision - seen with minds eye
- object is not physically seen, something that stirs the imagination, they can turn into intelectual visions, often occurs during sleep when the mind is less divided by thoughts
3) intelectual vision - knowlege and understanding
- a vision without any object or image
- the intelectual vision becomes supernatural when the person realises it is from god
- felt through the following affects:
1) feeling of love
2) overwelming peace of mind
3) deeper belief in god and its benefits and reward
- pure understanding, not reasoning - a person does not need to work out what a vision means
example of corporeal vision`
In 1858, a sickly 14-yearold girl called Bernadette Soubirous experienced a series of visions of Our Lady and discovered a clear water spring in a cave. • Bernadette witnessed a total of 17 visions in the spring of 1858 and is often also credited with having witnessed an 18th on the evening before she left Lourdes.
Walsingham simular ting
example of imaginary vision
Imaginary visions are produced in the imagination by God or by the angels when a person is either awake or asleep. • According to the Gospel of Matthew, St. Joseph was on several occasions supernaturally instructed in a dream.
(regarding jesus and mary)
example of an intellectual visian
• Julian of Norwich, the 14-15th century mystic, is a particularly good example of someone who received visions. • In The Revelations of Divine Love, she recounted one vivid experience: ‘And he showed me more, a little thing, the size of a hazelnut, on the palm of my hand, round like a ball…And again my mind supplied the answer, ‘It exists, both now and forever, because God loves it. In short, everything owes its existence to the love of God.’
what is a miracle ??
most people who believe in god believe in miracles, many have witnessed them
miracles are evidence and a clear source of knowlege about god
the true meaning is often clouded by people interpretations
a miracle is an event that occurs contrary to natural laws
St thomas Aquinas - miracles
he defined miracles as “those things done by divine power apart from the order usually followed in things”
he identified 3 types of miracles:
1) an event done by god which nature could not do
- the reversal of the course of the sun
2) an event done by god which nature could do
- such as recovering from paralysis/ terminal illness
3) an event done by nature which nature could but without using the principles or forces of nature
- recovering from an illness quickly because of someone praying for them
David Hume - miracles
scottish empiricist
defined mircale as “a transgression of the law of nature by a particular volition of the deity or by interposition of some invisible agent”
-in other words god breaks a law of nature which is considered unbreakable
Richard swimburne: miracles
he acknowlages that it is difficult to outweigh the scientific evidence that could count against a miracle, but he maintains that we do have enough historical evidence to suggest that there is a god and that god can violate the laws of nature
if god has reason to interact with us, he has reason very occasionally to intervene and suspend those natural laws by which our life is controlled but not too often or it would interfere with scientiffic progress and free will
three exaamples of miracles
1) jesus turning water into wine
- this was jesus’ first miracle, during a wedding jesus was attending he called for six large stone jars to be filled with water and turned them into wine
2) in 1995, a man in new dheli, dreamt that Ganesha wanted milk, when the man woke he rushed to the nearest temple to offer him milk and the murti consumed the milk - within hours the news that ganesha was accepting milk offerings spread accross india
3) parting of the red sea, moses after freeing the israelites, parts the red sea and closes it on the egyption army
what does rudolph otto argue is the common factor to all relgious experience
the experience of numinous, assosiated with feeling such as:
- creeping flesh
- fear of ghosts
- feeling something is uncanny weird or eery
- best expression is mysterium tremidum, mystery of wholly other, beyond apprehension/ comprehension
three examples of numinous
1) CS Lewis - different kinds of fear, ghost, tiger, mighty spirit
2) Kenneth Grahame - In the central chapter of Kenneth Grahame’s book ‘The Wind and the Willows’ he offers an excellent account of someone experiencing the numinous. 'Rat!' he [Mole] found breath to whisper, shaking. 'Are you afraid?' 'Afraid?' murmured the Rat, his eyes shining with unutterable love. 'Afraid! Of Him? O, never, never! And yet— and yet— O, Mole, I am afraid!'
3) The English Romantic poet William Wordsworth describes an early morning view of the city of London which produces in the poet and in some readers what must surely be a numinous experience of some sort. Earth has not anything to show more fair: Dull would he be of soul who could pass by A sight so touching in its majesty: This City now doth, like a garment, wear The beauty of the morning; silent, bare…
Religious conversion
conversion is a form of religious experience where someones life takes a dramatic spirtual turn
a person may be converted from no relgion to religious belief or from one religion to another/atheism/ agnosticism
people can convert through a long, gradual consious experience (volitional) or and involentary sudden experience (self surrender), for example a sudden religious experience in somone who was not previously religious
what are the 3 ways in which a religous conversion can change someone?
1) intellectual - a change in a person’s thinking
2) moral - a change in behaviour
3) social - a change in a persons way of life
Examples of religiouis conversion
St Paul St Paul heard the voice of Jesus – ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ This is followed by a declaration that the speaker is ‘The risen Christ’. After this vision on the road to Damascus, Paul converted to Christianity. Paul spent the rest of his life spreading the Christian message and is believed, according to Christian tradition, to have died a martyr’s death in Rome. The name change from Saul to Paul is significant to show the conversion of Saul/Paul to Christianity.
Davey Falcus
Davey Falcus was a renowned criminal from Newcastle upon Tyne. During his teenage years and early twenties Davey was involved heavily in the drug scene and was a very violent man. At the age of 29 Davey was a drug addict and alcoholic. In 1995 Davey picked up a Bible and from that point his life changed. A bright light filled the room where he was sat; it was brighter than the sun. The Jesus appeared and spoke to Davey. At that moment a 15 year drug habit was broken instantly; also my desire for alcohol left me.
Nicky Cruz
Nicky Cruz was the notorious gang leader of the Mau Maus (named after a bloodthirsty African tribe) Not long after becoming leader of this vicious gang, Nicky met David Wilkerson, a Christian preacher. Cruz felt overwhelmed by guilt and collected money for Wilkerson. Wilkerson prayed with Cruz, and Cruz asked for God’s forgiveness. Cruz began to study the Bible and became a preacher himself.
what is a mystical experience?
an experience of oneness or union with the divine
William james said mystical experience had four characteristics:
1) ineffable (too great to put into words)
2) noetic
- knowlege of the divine which is not otherwise available, comes directly from god
3) transient
- not permanent, may appear to last a long peroid of time even if they are not, their effects are long lasting
4) passive
- person is not in controll of what happens to them
what do religious experiences teach us about God?
1) god exists
2) god is immanent
3) god is omnibenevolent
4) jesus comes from god
5) god is arbitrary
how do religious experiences show god exists?
william james, richard swinburne, william alston
william james:
- if genuine, god is real
- “final arbiter of truth”
richard swimburne:
-cummalitive argument for existence of god
william alston:
- in normal life evidence is gathered from experience so if many people have had religious experience why should we not beliece what our senses tell us?
how do religious experiences show god is omnibenevolent?
william james, richard swinburne
richard swinburne
- god intervenes in peoples live to improve them
- changes the lives of people in need
william james
- supports swimburne
- receive the genuine love of god
how do religious experience show jesus is from god?
jesus calming storm
jesus walking on water
resurection
“signs worked by jesus, a test that the Father has sent him, they bear witness that he is the Son of God”
how do religious experence show god is arbitary?
Moris Wiles:
- rejects idea of miracles, shows god is arbitary and biased
- why does he not intervene ? auschwitz/hiroshima
- why does he save some but let others die?
- raises more questions about god
what dud sigmund freud say about god and religion?
- result of a faulty mind
- form of neurosis
1) collective neurosis
2) oedipus complex
3) wish fulfilment
Freud: collective neurosis
- mind creates beliefs and images in the unconsious
- unconsios mind is a vast store of infomation of events which are long forgotten
- unpleasent memories will surface later in the form of neurotic/ hysterical behavior
- religious experience is a manifestation of this behavior
freud: oedipus complex
- guilt
- religious experiences stem from a shared guilt, originally from the horde killing the dominent male
freud: wish fulfillment
- freud says the main charecteristic of an illusion is it “derived from human wished”
- no proof or evidence for religious experience yet sensible men and women continue to believe theyve had one
how is god a physiological condition?
VS Ramachandran:
- temporal lobe epilepsy
- when the temporal lobe patients were shown any type of religious imagary there bodies produced a dramatic change in skin resistence
- st paul may have had the condition
michael persinger
- cognitive neuroscience researcher
- by stimulating the temperal lobes he can artificially induce a religious experience, therefore people who claim to have religious experience are experiencing a faulty mechanism in the brain
arguments suggesting religious experience cannot be verified
problems caused by ineffability - god is something beyond human understanding, cannot be known through reason only through faith (cannot be proved) - Ayre.
lacks empirical evidence - Ayre regards a genuince experience as something which someone can test empirically. religious experiences are not like this
religious experience is emotion - Ayre says there are two types of statement, things that exist or thing in someones mind. religious experiences are all the second type
cannot verify indirectly or directly - we cannot observe or experience what someone else has experienced and we cannot verify it through evidence
arguments suggesting religious experience can be verified
corporate experience - if more than one person experiences something it becomes difficult to doubt
strong verification - vienna circle suggest only events that can be experienced or observed are meaningful. william james argues that religious experiences fit with this criteria becuase the individual has experienced and observed it
direct and indirect verification - bernadette experienced visions, direct verification. lourdes has now become a popular catholic shrine, 67 mircales have been confirmed, indirect verification
david humes arguments against religious experience as proof of gods existence
probability - irrational and illogical to believe in religious experience. he is an empiricist and believes you have to experience and observe the world. miracles.
practicality - hume offers four ways in which we can discount miracles:
1) not enough witnesses
2) human can suspend reason and follow the majority, eg UFO landing
3) tends to be uneducated people who experience them
4) witnesses do not usually give the exact same account
richard swimburnes arguments for religious experience as proof of god
offers two ways in which we can accept that a person has experienced god
1) principle of credulirty
- if somebody believes theyve seen something it is probably correct unless you have proof otherwise
2) principle of testimony
- people usually tell the truth so you should believe them unless you have proof otherwise
three reasons to not believe someone:
1)good reason to disbelive - alcohol/drugs, pathological liars, very young etc
2) If you can prove what they said did not happen
3) evidence to show that the event was not caused by god
John Mackies arguments against religious experience being evidence of god
1) no more reason to believe other people than ‘the yorkshire ripper’ who society does not believe
2) interpret things in terms of culteral conditioning
- people tend to experience religious figures from their religion/ society’s religion
3) Mackie likens people experience of god to dreams
- may seem real but only our experience. god is a product of our mind/body
william james’ arguments for religious experience being evidence of god
1) normal people have religious experiences - common in all cultures and religions, cannot all have mental illnesses. experience is the final arbiture of truth
2) religious experiences have a profound effect
- hallucinations could not have such a deep effect on peoples lives. more reasonable to believe that these profound effects are due to something real than imagined
3) the certainty of a persons testimony offers quality assurance
