Religious Experience Basics

Question 1

what is a religious experience?

Answer 1

• any of these is correct -

where god is experienced beyond ordinary empirical explanation

may be individualism subjective (where an individual is made aware of a transcendent reality)

may be corporate (where a gathering of people appear to be affected)

some argue that the amount of evidence and testimony suggests that such experiences are real and come from God

Question 2

name an example of a christian mystic

Answer 2

st teresa of avila

Question 3

what are the types and examples of religious experience?

Answer 3

mystical experience

conversion experience

visions

voices

prayer

Question 4

what is a mystical experience

Answer 4

a term used to describe experience of direct contact or oneness with god or ultimate reality

Question 5

what is a conversion experience

Answer 5

a term used to describe an experience that leads to an adoption of a new religious beliefs that differs from a previously held belief

Question 6

what are visions

Answer 6

a word used to describe experience of god or another religious figure appearing with a message

Question 7

what are voices

Answer 7

used to describe experience of hearing god or another religious figure appearing with a message

Question 8

what is prayer

Answer 8

an experience of communicating with god or a higher power through the medium of prayer

Question 9

David Ray published a book called Religious Experience Today which presents findings of randomly sampled people.

1) How many British people claim to have had a religious experience?
2) how often did these experiences last?
3) they can change their behaviour and attitudes, what do these include?

Answer 9

1) 31%
2) often they can last a few seconds, other can last a lot longer
3) increased self esteem and a feeling of purpose

Question 10

name some religious examples of a religious experience that has involved god

Answer 10

st paul/saul

moses

muhammad

Question 11

1) religious experience is attempting to prove what?
2) what type of argument is it?
3) is it an evidence based argument? if so what is the key word for it?

Answer 11

1) attempting to prove the existence of god
2) it is both a synthetic and an inductive argument
3) it does require evidence and experience. a posteriori