Religious Experience Flashcards
Definition?
An encounter with god
Eg near death experience, miracles, prayer, visions
Definition of a vision?
Where a person sees an object, sounds or figure that isn’t part of normal reality but the person believes they have a religious origin
What are the four types of vision?
Group
Individual: dream based
Individual: corporeal
Intellectual
What’s a group vision?
Visions seen by more than one person
Virgin Mary appeared 6 times to 3 Shepard children wanting peace in Russia
What is a dream based vision?
Seen by only one person, through a dream
Joseph’s vision about Mary’s pregnancy
What’s a corporeal vision?
A physical body seen in the real world by one person
The angel appearing to the Shepard’s
What’s an intellectual vision?
Visions that bring a message
Wise men warned not to return to king Herod
What can the content of visions be?
A message: muhammed receiving the Quran
Religious figure: st Teresa of Avila had a vision of an angel with a spear which pierced her heart
A place: guru nanaks vision of god’s court where he was escorted to god and commanded to drink nectar
What’s the definition of a conversion?
A process of change which alters a persons view of the world, in a religious sense
What are William james’ features of conversion?
Can be passive- unexpectedly comes upon someone
Or active- specifically seeking a spiritual experience
Can be transforming
Slow or fast
Often involuntary
Different types of conversion?
Atheist to faith- CS Lewis
Faith to faith- sundar Singh was a Sikh, had a vision of Jesus and became Christian
Inner self- unifying the inner self. Jung believed religion brought psychological wholeness
Deepening of faith- can have intellectual belief which deepened to come from the heart
Moral- leads to increased moral standing. Giving up drugs to be religious
Definition of prayer?
In a basic sense, the activity of speaking to god
Who was Teresa of Avila?
She joined a Nunnery at a young age
After a severe illness she had a vision of a wounded Christ which inspired her to develop her prayer life
What did Teresa of Avila think?
4 stages of prayer referred to as 7 mansions
She considers the soul to be like a castle that contains mansions
True union can only be achieved by intense concentration and discipline through a life of prayer
What are the stages of prayer?
- In the 4th mansion ‘prayer of consolations’ where human will is captivated by god’s love
- 5th mansion ‘prayer of simple union’ god placed himself in the persons soul
- 6th ‘spiritual marriage’ feelings of painful longing, spiritual happiness and visions
- 7th highest possible state of prayer where the soul has reached union with god
What is mysticism?
A union with god
A feeling you can’t put into words- ineffable
Eg Sufism in Islam, Moses in Christianity receiving 10 commandments
What are Ed millers characteristics of mystical experiences?
Transcendent- beyond physical world Ineffable- indescribable Noetic- gives you knowledge Ecstatic- fills you with joy Unitive- makes you feel whole
What are the types of mystical experience?
Unitive- goes from separation from god to connection. Saul to Paul
Transcendent- experience is beyond this world. Sufism
Ecstatic- makes you feel something. Toronto blessing, so full of Holy Spirit people behaved like animals, uncontrolled laughing
What did William james believe?
Pragmatist- not a fixed definition of a religious experience
Pluralist- many ways to experience god, his existence is a probability
What were William James’ characteristics of a mystical experience?
Passivity- the experience is not caused by you
Ineffable- can’t put into words
Noetic- gives you knowledge
Transient- the experience is short lived but the effect is long lasting
PINT
What did Rudolf Otto believe?
You can’t empirically test a religious experience but you can look at the validity through the feeling it makes. The experience of the ‘holy’
He called the holy ‘numinous’ so for him a religious experience was numinous
What does mysterium tremendum mean?
A marvellous, terrifying, mystery
How Otto described a mystical experience
What happened to Father Yves Dubois?
Had a numinous experience when standing in front of Mary.
Overwhelming certainty of the presence of the mother of god, an awareness of purity, her holiness was frightening
Filled with awe
Who challenges religious experience?
Caroline Franks Davis
