Religious Experience

Question 1

Mystical experience

Answer 1

Experiences of God or of the supernatural which go beyond everyday sense experience
Broad term that includes visions, voices, can be dramatic or quiet and involves ‘uniting’ with God.

Question 2

Numinous experience

Answer 2

An indescribable experience which invokes feelings of awe, worship and fascination

Question 3

Corporate religious experience

Answer 3

Religious experiences which happen to a group of people ‘as a body’

Question 4

Conversion experience

Answer 4

An experience which produces a radical change in someone’s belief system

Question 5

Problems with RE

Answer 5

Difficult to define and difficult to explain.

Question 6

The importance of religious experience

Answer 6

Central part of many religious traditions despite difficulties
Frequent in sacred texts
Religious experiences of central religious figures
Important for theology
Personal changes of individuals
Formation of doctrines based on religious experiences eg. Salat, or specific groups e.g. Franciscan Monks

Question 7

Schleiermacher

Answer 7

Religious experiences are an inner feeling of dependence on the divine, not numinous.
It is at the heart of faith - statements of belief should be formulated to fit RE.
It requires no other testing to see if it is genuine. ‘self authenticating’
Different religions occur due to different religious experiences based on different cultures.
Christianity is the highest religion because of Jesus. but not the only true one.

Question 8

Criticisms of Schleiermacher

Answer 8

Too much on subjective? Suggests that religious claims are based on emotion rather than fact.
There must be some form of testing or else any experience could count.
How can we know that it is God?

Question 9

Prof. VS Ramachandran (University of California)

Answer 9

Scientific explanation for ‘religious experiences’
He discovered that heightened activity in the temporal lobe of the brain floods all senses with over whelming emotional experience similar to the account by believers of numinous experiences

Question 10

AJ Ayer

Answer 10

It is impossible to verify the existence of God because religious experiences are unverifiable and thus it is unreasonable to believe them

Question 11

William James

Answer 11

A philosopher and psychologist who studied religious experiences, and concluded that their validity can be tested by their long lasting effects.

Question 12

Williams James’ view of God

Answer 12

For him, religious experiences indicate the probability of God.
He was a pluralist do did not speak directly of God, but of the ‘spiritual’ and the ‘higher aspects’ of the world.
He offers an argument for the existence of God in very general terms, the phenomena of religious experience points to a higher order of reality.

Question 13

James’ criteria for religious experience.

Answer 13

The spiritual value of an RE is not undone if a psychological explanation is found.
There is not a single defining feature of RE
The experience of the great religious figures can set patterns for the conventional believer to study.
e.g. christians can be strong people who help others to progress.
Religious experience > focusing on a study of religious institutions

Question 14

James’ definition of RE

Answer 14

“The feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine.” i.e. humans have a feeling of ‘something there’.

Question 15

Second hand religion

Answer 15

William James’ idea that religious teachings, practices and attitudes are less important than religious experience, which is at the heart of religion.

Question 16

Ineffable

Answer 16

The idea that a religious experience must be beyond proper description.
Language limitations mean that no adequate description can be given in words.

Question 17

Noetic quality

Answer 17

The idea that a religious experience is not just feelings, but a deep and direct knowledge of God which could not have been achieved through reason alone.
The ‘truth’ was revealed to them.

Question 18

James’ 4 criteria

Answer 18

James acknowledged the difficulty in defining religious experience so he proposed 4 criteria that he considered to be the characteristics of all religious and mystical experiences. 
Ineffable 
Noetic 
Transient 
Passive

Question 19

Transient

Answer 19

The idea that a religious experience is temporary and cannot be sustained, although its effects may last a long time.
It can develop and deep with subsequent experiences.

Question 20

Passive

Answer 20

The idea that a RE cannot be initiated by the mystic but rather they have a sense that something is acting upon them.
The experience is controlled from outside themselves.

Question 21

James’ conclusion on religious experience

Answer 21

Religious experiences do not give proof of anything however it is reasonable to believe that there is a personal God who is interested in the world and individuals.
It is not reasonable for anyone to reject clear evidence of religious experience just because they started from a position of scepticism.

Question 22

Strength of William James’ argument

Answer 22

Quantity- religious based on the experience of its founders has been a powerful force in history. (David Hay) It is widespread.
The effects of these experiences are powerful and positive - they change the lives of communities and individuals in a way that is difficult to explain without making reference to a God.
Several accounts of REs have similar descriptions hat would not be present if they were simple made up.

Question 23

Objections to William James’ argument

Answer 23

His study is too subjective as he focuses more on the truth of the experience for the individual rather than if it relates to the idea of a God who ‘exists in the real world’.
He does not show that there must be a God, there could be other causes.
Believers of different faiths claim their experiences prove the truth of their faith however they cannot all be right.
Believers tend to interpret experiences in the light of their particular traditions, making them highly subjective and personal.

Question 24

Bertrand Russel

Answer 24

Criticised James’ argument.
“The fact that a belief has a good moral effect upon a man is no evidence whatsoever in favour of its truth”.
People can be effected by fictional stories.

Question 25

Anthony Flew

Answer 25

To him, statements that cannot be tested empirically are meaningless, he would therefore reject James’ tests of religious experience through its results in the life of individuals.

Question 26

St Teresa of Avilia

Answer 26

What we now call a mystic, however in their time they were simply Christians seeking encounters with God as expressing these in language and imagery.

Question 27

Psychology - James

Answer 27

The number of REs says theres something in it

Question 28

Pluralism - James

Answer 28

All religions have truths

Question 29

Pragmatism - James

Answer 29

It positively changes lives

Question 30

Sigmund Freud

Answer 30

Humans are plagued with wishful thinking
Conversion meets the psychological needs of people - they desire a father figure.
Psycho-somatic experience - mental experiences trick you into thinking its a physical experience.

Question 31

Starbuck

Answer 31

Most conversions happen between 18-24, at this age people are stressed and easily influenced. “Finding themselves”

Question 32

Karl Marx

Answer 32

“Religion is the opiate of the people”

Religion controls society, gets people through life.

Question 33

Swinburne’s principle of credulity

Answer 33

Senses are usually reliable

Question 34

Swinburne’s principle of testimony

Answer 34

Most of the time people tell the truth

Question 35

Maurice Wells

Answer 35

If REs are real, God is immoral because he only chooses to reveal himself to a select few.