Religious Experience Flashcards
What are Ninian Smarts 7 Dimensions?
- practical and ritual which is worshipping, preaching, sacrificing, doing yoga
- experiential and emotional which is personal and collective experiences of the “absolute“
- Narrative and musical which are stories of founders only.
– Doctrinal and philosophical which is believed about the nature of reality and the name of humans.
– Ethical and legal which is the code of conduct for life e.g. the 10 Commandments - social and institutional which is the community that preserve the belief e.g. the church.
– Material dimension which is buildings, works of art, features of the natural world
What are some examples of things that trigger religious experiences?
- A crisis of some kind e.g. death – mental illnesses or depression – psychological breakdown – worship or meditation – holy places – the natural world – music – psychedelic drugs
What is a vision?
The ability to see something beyond normal experiences – e.g. the vision of an angel; such visions usually convey information or insight concerning a specific religious tradition
What does sensory mean?
A vision where external objects/sound of figures convey knowledge and understanding to the recipient
What’s an intellectual vision?
A vision which brings the recipient knowledge and understanding
What is a dream in terms of visions?
In terms of vision, the unconscious state where knowledge of understanding is gained through a series of images or a dream narrative, that would not normally be available to the individual in the conscious state
What are the seven stages of conversion?
- Context — this is made up of everything that has brought the person to where they are now: their upbringing, their educational background, their work, their social network, religion etc
– crisis — Something happens to destabilise the religious identity
– quest — The person in crisis searches for help for alternative approaches, within or beyond the original faith tradition
– encounter — The seeker meets somebody, or notices that someone they already know is devout and active in the practice of their religion and follows this same path
– interaction — The seeker finds a religious community that seems to suit them better. They spend some period as a guest or a participant observer, perhaps attending public rituals, learning at customs, get Internet people
– commitment — The seeker formally, joins the new faith community. In doing so, they take on all the ritual and moral obligations of membership
– consequences — The person participates fully in the new faith community, while continuing to learn more about its ways
A conversion can be from a faith to no faith or from one faith to another. What is an example that could show these?
Sundar Singh was a devout Sikh, but was dissatisfied with Sikhism and he sought ultimate meaning in Hinduism and Christianity. He wasn’t happy with either so he made to kill himself unless God revealed himself. Then he had a vision of Jesus and became an active Christian for the rest of his life
Caroline Franks Davis challenge the validity of claims of religious experiences. She argues description related, subject related and object related challenges. What do they mean?
Description related challenges = no proof. Description is not valid as a result. It’s inconsistent or contradictory with everyday experiences.
Subject related challenges = is unreliable source. Maybe under the influence of drugs, mental illness. Cannot properly understand the experience
Objects related to challenges = focuses on the alleged object of the experience – God. Suggestion of an experience of God is no more likely than that of an alien from Mars or talking to a pig. Why should we believe anyone who claims to experience God when we wouldn’t believe someone in the other two situations?
What is another challenge to religious experience? OUTDATED
They are quite outdated. The nature of mystical experiences seem to belong to another time. When faced with claims in modern age, scepticism is all too prevalent. Disbelief and dismissal are the first responses were not with an account of religious experience
What are some further debates that challenge religious experience?
- objectivity vs subjectivity
– it’s difficult to establish criteria for establishing the reliability of religious experiences due to the subjective nature
– its objective and verifiable as it relates to external factors that can be agreed on by the observers
– it’s subjective as it’s based on opinion, personal judgement, belief or assumption which makes it more difficult to verify. It’s open to interpretation and the views change according to the time and context.
What are religious practices? Add examples
Religious practices include religious ceremonies, religious festivals and also daily life which often involves religious duties and reflections. Often festivals are celebrations of past events that are grounded in a significant religious experience. For example, during Ramadan, Muslims celebrate the time when the verses of the qur’an was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad
What is religious faith?
Many thinkers view faith as both a belief that and a belief in.
An example of a belief-in statement would be “I believe in Jesus” this usually means more than just belief that Jesus was a historical figure. It implies there is some trust in Jesus.
A believe-that statement is “I believe that in seekers in the first group is Guru Nanak”. The statement is making a claim that is objectively true and that something is a fact.
For many people, the move from belief that to believe in is brought about by personal religious experience
What is religious revelation?
Religious revelation is the religious experience which can be about a moment of realisation coming at the end of a period of reflection. It involves saying or interpreting events or experiences in a special way as having spiritual significance rather than just political and sociological importance e.g. in the old Testament = prophet saw the fall of Jerusalem as an experience of judgement on its people because of disobedience
What is community affirmation?
In most religions, there is often a pivotal figure who is linked to the founding of that religion. Usually these figures experience a particularly significant event to mark the start of the ministry. Their authority to rise from their religious experience as it soon as confirmation and affirmation of the message e.g. the angel Gabriel Is said to have appear to Muhammad when he was praying alone in a cave. The angel commanded Muhammad to recite verses that will be included in the Quran . Revelations continued for 23 years from the Quran which is regarded as the entire revelation of God
