Religious Experience Flashcards
Types
Mystical
Experience that goes beyond ordinary sensory experience e.g, union with God
Conversion
Experience which produces a radical changes in someone’s belief system
Corporate
Experience which happen to a group of people as a body
Swinburne
Principle of Credulity
Experience is normally reliable, so we should trust our experience unless we have convincing reasons or not
Principle of Testimony
People normally tell the truth, so we should take what their reported experiences seriously unless we have convincing reasons not to
Corporate
Multiple people report having the same religious experience at the same time
The Toronto Blessing
Began in 1944 when 120 at a church near the Toronto airport reported feeling the presence of the Holy Spirit and were affected by. These effects included hysterical laughing or weeping, rolling around and making animal noises.
Conversion
Religious ideas move from something one is dimly aware of to being the starting positions for one’s view of the world
Steps
One
Dissatisfied
Two
Because they are dissatisfied they start looking for something new e.g. bible
Three
There’s a feeling of the presence of God e.g visions, voices
Four
Afterwards they’ll have a sense of peace and joy.
Five
Life is changed
William James
Four qualities of religious experiences
Ineffable, The experience cannot be put into words
Noetic, Some insight or knowledge is gained
Transient, The experience is usually quite brief, minutes or maybe hours but almost never longer
Passive, The person having the experiences is not in control of the experience, they are the recipient.
Rudolph Otto
Three qualities
Mystery,
cannot be understood or comprehended. The Divine is ‘alien’ or ‘other’
Ultimate importance
The experience is often the most meaningful experience in a personas life
Attractive and dangerous
The Divine is all powerful and uncontrollable, loving yet terrifying
