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Philosophy (3) > Religious Experience > Flashcards

Religious Experience Flashcards

1
Q

Why are religious experiences important?

A
  • Shape religious beliefs
  • Gives life a sense of ‘direction’
  • Close relationship with God
  • Validates belief
  • Gives hope
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2
Q

Give five examples of what religious experiences may be

A
  • Hearing or seeing a religious figure
  • Conversion
  • Feeling of having the divine in or with you
  • Miracles
  • NDEs
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3
Q

Describe ‘Act 2: The coming of the Holy Spirit and Pentacost’

A

A house of believers, suddenly touched by tongues of fire that made them speak all different languages but heard each other in their native language. Peter ran out to the town and shouted the message of Jesus as the Messiah risen from the dead an uncorrupt bodies of deceased prophets. 3,000 people converted and were baptised in the name of Christ.

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4
Q

Give two quotes from Friedrich Schleiermacher describing religion

A

“A sense and taste for the infinite”

“The feeling of absolute dependence”

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5
Q

Who was Friedrich Schleiermacher?

A

A Christian pastor who reacted mostly against the contemporary view of C18th Germany (Enlightenment)

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6
Q

Describe Schleiermacher’s views of religion and religious experience

A
  • R.E. could occur in many forms and cultures, different religions are a reflection of this
  • Christianity is the highest religion but not the only true one
  • Jesus Christ is the only person ever to live to be ‘God-conscious’
  • The essence of religion is experience and the heart of faith
  • R.E. is self-authenticating and requires no testing to be confirmed as genuine
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7
Q

Give two criticisms of Schleiermacher’s views

A
  • Too much emphasis on making what’s subjective seem objective and removes the possibility of R.E. to be based on fact
  • R.E. has to be tested for validity
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8
Q

What does William James believe ‘conversion’ is?

A

The process where someone is ‘divided’ and conscious of being wrong and unhappy becomes more confident about what is right. “Consequence of a firmer hold on religious realities”

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9
Q

What was William James’ aim by collecting accounts of religious experience and what did he conclude?

A
  • Experiences can be tested for validity
  • Tested by observing changes in the person’s nature
  • Not necessarily only restricted to Christianity
  • Does not have to be a supernatural event but determined by long term changes in the person’s nature
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10
Q

Name William James’ four main qualities of a religious experience

A
  • Ineffability
  • Noetic quality
  • Transiency
  • Passivity
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11
Q

Describe Ineffibility (W.James)

A

The person cannot explain what’s happened

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12
Q

Describe Noetic quality (W.James)

A

The person has been given new insights which could not have been concluded through reason alone

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13
Q

Describe Transiency (W.James)

A

The experience doesn’t last long

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14
Q

Describe Passivity (W.James)

A

The person feels taken over by the supernatural (recipients of the experience rather than instigators)

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15
Q

What is the name and aim of Rudolf Otto’s book?

A

‘The idea of the Holy’ to express the ‘otherness’ of religious experience

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16
Q

Who was Rudolf Otto and what did he research?

A

German Protestant Theologian who researched natural science, comparative religions and oriental traditions to analyse religion

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17
Q

What did Otto believe is fundamental to religion?

A

Individuals have a sense of a personal encounter specifically a sense of awe and mystery

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18
Q

Otto said the divine has three main qualities, what are they?

A
  • Mystery (God is not able to be comprehended)
  • God is the ultimate importance
  • God is attractive and dangerous as he is uncontrollable but also a privilege
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19
Q

What does Otto mean by ‘numinous’?

A

The feeling of awe-inspiring holiness because ordinary language can’t explain R.E. and so the recipient can describe their feelings but not the origin of their feelings

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20
Q

What is a mystical experience?

A

An experience of any kind where a person feels they have reached an understanding of spiritual truth which may not be understood by reason or normal sense experience

21
Q

Why was religious experience emphasised during the Middle Ages?

A

To realise that God is beyond human comprehension

22
Q

What is ‘mysticism’?

A

A term created in support of a movement toward finding common ground between the six main global religions. ‘Mystical experience’ was used to show a single truth in God’s revelation despite religion or culture.

23
Q

In what context was F.C.Happold writing?

A

The 1960s when people looked beyond Christianity to find meaning and truth so freedom of thought, speech and behaviour was popular

24
Q

How did F.C.Happold understand mysticism?

A

An underlying religion in all forms dependent on ration human reasoning

25
Q

The mystic believes the (1) world is only part of reality that comes from (2), human nature allows us to know the divine ground through (3), people have two natures; ego and (4) which is the spark of (5), purpose of humanity is to discover (6) and unite with (7)

A 
1 - physical 
2 - divine ground
3 - intuition
4 - spiritual eternal self 
5 - divinity 
6 - the eternal self
7 - divine ground
26
Q

Describe Isiah 6:1 - 6:13

A

Vision of Isiah in the temple when he is called to be a prophet says he saw God and gave many heavenly insights

27
Q

What is a conversion experience?

A

An experience that causes someone to abandon their past life and belief system to adopt a new one

28
Q

What basic pattern does conversion experiences tend to follow?

A
  • A person is dissatisfied with their current life
  • They search both intellectually and spiritually to make a decision of how to move forward
  • Point of crisis and intense emotion (sense of sinfulness and repentance)
  • Sense of joy within their new faith
29
Q

Give a quote from William James describe conversion?

A

“Converted means… religious ides previously peripheral… now take a central place… religious aims form the habitual centre of his energy”

30
Q

How could psychology explain conversion?

A

Psychologists have attempted to determine if there are certain personality traits that make people more susceptible to conversion

31
Q

What are W.James’ criticisms of using psychology to explain conversion?

A

Psychology could describe conversion but not account for it as conversion can be tested by results similarly to the accountability of religious experiences (by changes in the person’s nature)

32
Q

Why are conversion experiences controversial?

A

It is difficult to separate internal and spiritual influences from external social causes so it is impossible to determine how a person would feel despite their circumstances and so it could be more accountable by psychology rather than an act of God

33
Q

Describe the conversion of Malcolm X and give a quote

A

Converted to Islam on a tour of the Middle East whilst completing the pilgrimage of Hajj at Mecca he said “The first time I had ever stood before the creator of all and felt complete” which he believes helped him to disregard beliefs of whites being evil and encourage atoning power of unity

34
Q

What is corporate religious experience?

A

When multiple people have similar or the same religious experience at the same time

35
Q

Describe the corporate religious experience of 6 teenagers in Mejugorje in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1981, give two advantages and two disadvantages of this account

A
  • Visions of the virgin Mary telling them messages of peace and prayer
    + 6 people increases evidential force
    + Children are less coherent than adults and more believable
    x Close age group - may be encouraging each other
    x Catholics are sceptical - Pope Francis didn’t visit shrine when on tour
36
Q

Describe the Toronto Blessing (first documented 1994) and give on criticsm

A
  • Modern phenomenon in USA, Canada
  • People worshipping together overcome by the Holy Spirit causing them to laugh, dance, cry or faint uncontrollably
    x Mass hysteria rejects principle of the Holy Spirit to be humble
37
Q

Describe Richard Swinburne’s views of the accountability of R.E.

A

People in general are honest and so we can’t doubt accounts of R.E. just as we don’t doubt basic facts of the world even if we haven’t had direct experience

38
Q

Name Swinburne’s to principles

A

Testimony and credulity

39
Q

Describe the principle of testimony (Swinburne)

A

Unless evidence contradicts people’s accounts, they should be believed as true unless one of three contradictory evidence is provided:

  • circumstances unreliable e.g. drugs
  • evidence suggests they are prone to lying
  • explanation other than God e.g. mental illness
40
Q

Describe the principle of credulity (Swinburne)

A

Basic rationality in favour of honesty of accounts due to so many recorded experiences
Without sufficient and overwhelming evidence, accounts cannot be contradicted

41
Q

Name three psychologists that discuss R.E.

A

Ludwig Feuerbach, Donald Winnicott and Sigmund Freud

42
Q

Describe Ludwig Feuerbach’s views of R.E.

A
  • origin of the mind not God
  • people worship their own human nature when they think they are worshipping God
  • R.E. are unconscious projections of the best aspects of human nature
  • God is the ideals of human nature
  • People invent a God to feel comfort and justice
43
Q

On what three levels does Freud believe the human mind works on?

A
  • Ego (conscious self of opinion)
  • ID (unconscious self of memories and repressed emotions and desires)
  • Superego (inner moral voice influenced during upbringing)
44
Q

What does Freud believe God to be?

A
  • People who believe in God are fooling themselves
  • God is a creation by people who cannot cope with adulthood and need a parental figure
  • People mistake their superegos to be the voice of God
  • ‘Infantile neurosis’ which people need to reject to live with better mental health
45
Q

What did D.Winnicott conclude about R.E. from researching childhood and the bond of motherhood?

A
  • Adults indulge the stage of children developing strong emotional attachment so they believe objects e.g. teddies are real to support the transition of self-reliance
  • People need this illusion even in adulthood otherwise they have ‘hallmarks of madness’
  • Illusion is important for mental health to make sense of our place in the world
  • R.E. is an illusion which only become madness if imposed on others
46
Q

What research did Michael Persinger conduct to explain R.E. as having physiological origins

A

Neurophysiologist - volunteers wore a helmet that transmitted weak magnetic signals through the brain, a significant number of people reported feelings and experiences with striking resemblance to R.E.

47
Q

Why was Persinger’s study criticised?

A
  • Some claim participants knew the aim of the study

- Repeat experiment didn’t produce such convincing results

48
Q

How does Mobbs and Watt explain the origins of R.E.?

A

Elements of NDEs are biologically explained by activity in the parietal and prefrontal cortices of the brain and the release of hormones

Philosophy (3) (9 decks)

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