Religious Experience Essay Flashcards
what is essay 1 ?
do religious experience prove the existence of God?
what is ur view essay 1 ?
yes
what scholars essay 1 ?
intro essay 1 ?
Religious Experience = An experience featuring or about God and Christianity.
Diff types = corporate, conversion, individual, mystical.
point para 1 essay 1 ?
William James - The Varieties of Religious Experience : A study of Human Nature (1917) , he was a phsyicologist and studied a large variety of mysitcal experiemces aiming to be objective and fair . Letting the facts speak for themselves , no bias in his work.
His use of pragmatism and empiricism is very useful , he has some things which must occur with a religious experience to make it deemed trustworthy that it provides evidence of a deity.
Pragmatism = He said the truths of RE’s can be found in the results.
Empiricism = he looked at empricially tested effects of RE.
Common core values of an experience = transient, passive, ineffable and noetic
Transient = The experience is short lived , usually between ‘half an hour, or at most an hour or two’, but effects are long lasting.
Passive = Feeling overwhelmed by higher power. ‘The mystic feels as if his own will were in abeyance… as if he was grasped and held by a superior power’
Ineffable = Cannot adequately describe the experience. ‘Defies expression’
Noetic = Gaining an intuitive knowledge/perception of God ‘States of insight into depths of truth…illuminations, revelations…’.
counter para 1 essay 1 ?
How can God be transcendant and imminant which he seems to be in a RE ?
Use of senses and observation can decieve us - Accounts collected by William James include people using drugs to alter their state of consciousness
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)- Pyschological explanation.
RE’s are maniestations for our desire for a divine father figure- could be hallucinations.
Religion is humanitys ‘universal obsessional neurosis ‘
Part of brain called the ‘god spot’ has been suggested the cause of RE . Prof Johnstone of Uni of Missouri - ‘certain parts of brain play more predominant roles , but they all work together to facilitate individuals spiritual experiences’,
1980’s - Researchers used ‘God Helmet’ to pass magnetic signals over the temporal lobes of the brain, resulting in some recipients sensing a spiritual presence in the room , where some also had visions of God.
Beneficial effects of RE’s might be a placebo effect , thinking you have someone looking after you (God), will make you feel better even if the belief is false.
counter counter para 1 essay 1 ?
William James - sees ‘fruits’ , changes/products of the experience after it occurs.
‘You will know them by their fruits’ Matthew 7:16 - long term beneficial effetcs
Ockhams Razor = The simplest explanation. For a theist it is the most possible explanation.
RE as brain activity does not mean there can be no objective reality to them as well.
point para 2 essay 1 ?
Swinburne principle of credulity and testimony suggest one should treat RE in the same way you would treat a normal experience - so why be more spectical abotu this ? Need to trust just like we trust God.
Principle of Creduality = We should believe things are as they seem to be if there is no overwhelming evidence to the contrary
Principle of testimony = We should believe what people tell us unless we have good reason to doubt.
Religious people have more RE’s as they are best placed to recognise them .
Near Death experiences
‘God is love’ - So whenever a person experiences ‘love’ they are experiencing God!
If God’s and is omnibenevolent it is reasonable why he would want us to experience him.
counter para 2 essay 1 ?
To last one - Why do only some people experience him ??
Privacy - impossible to empirically verify things
Karl Marx - Sociological explanation - They are illusions that humanity uses to deal with the harsh realities of life. ‘Religion is the opium of the people ‘
Richard Dawkins - ‘The argument from personal experience is the one that is the most convincing to those who claim to have had one . But it is least convincing to anyone else , and anyone knowledgeable about pyshcology ‘
Hume - catholics experience Mary and Hindus experience Krishna. - Therefore seems unlikely then one divine source causes religious experience.
counter counter para 2 essay 1 ?
(to the privacy )James looked at effects - which means they can be empirically verified as seen in first paragraph.
Experiences are expressed in different ways only due to our personality , culture and upbrining , but there are still common features
what is intro essay 2 ?
Corporate = experienced by a large group of people. Individual - RE experienced by just one person.
what scholars essay 2 ?
Swinburne, William James.
what is ur view essay 2 ?
corporate is better
point para 1 essay 2 ?
Toronto Blessing.
Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship. Uncontrollable ‘holy’ laughter as well as crying, shrieking and falling to the floor. - Acting under the influence of Holy Spirit.
Fatima - Portugal - 1917 - Crowd of over 30,000 gathered in response to visions that claimed a miracle would occur on that day. As the crowd looked up they reported the sun ‘dancing’ and making strange movements in this sky.
counter para 1 essay 2 ?
Mass Hysteria - A group of people can spontaneoulsy start to generate physical symptoms in repsonse to a pshycological stimulus such as fear.
Trivial Acts - Seems strange that God would interact with us in this way instead of through miracles and messages.
Toronto - Also negative long term effects - trauma - why would God hurt them ?
