Religious Experience, January Mock Exam.

Question 1

What is the difference between Eastern Religious Experiences and Western Religious Experiences?

Answer 1

-Eastern are Monistic, seekers of truth, they start with a religious experience and the move onto the theology E.g. Buddha’s religious experience. They believe the experience comes from within.

WHEREAS

-Western is Monotheistic, God reveals himself to humans e.g. Moses and the boring bush. The experience comes from an external agent as God is separate.

Question 2

How does Teasdale define a mystical experience?

Answer 2

• “Direct and intimate encounter with the divine/ultimate reality.”
• For Christians this means a union and communion and for Buddhists it is realisation of enlightenment.

Question 3

How does James define mystical experience?

Answer 3

-Believes it is the ability to see the truth in a special way.

Question 4

What are Happold’s 3 main characteristics?

Answer 4

1) Consciousness of the oneness of everything- awareness of identity goes and the person becomes aware of being part of a dimension, much greater than themselves.
2) Sense of timelessness- beyond, past, present, future. Realm of eternity and infinity- where God is.
3) Understanding that the ego is not the real I- unchanging self is immortal and lies behind all unusual experiences in life.

Question 5

What are Pahnke’s 5 mystical characteristics?

Answer 5

1) Deeply felt positive mood= joy, peace, blessed and love to an overwhelming degree- accompanied with tears.
2) Sense of sacredness= extreme emotional reaction (mostly positive) non-rational, hushed response of awe and wonder in presence of inspiring reality. Awe, humility and reverence.
3) Paradoxically= the identity of opposites- contradictions become apparent if description of analysed person is experiencing an “identity of opposites”.
4) Alleged ineffability= meaning experiences cannot be described with words- but can be by metaphors.
5) Persisting positive changes in attitude and behaviour.

Question 6

What are Stace’s common features?

Answer 6

1) Unifying vision.
2) Timelessness.
3) Sense of reality, not subjective but not a valid source of knowledge.
4) Blessedness.
5) Sense of presence of paradox and logic is defied.
6) Ineffability.
7) Lost sense of self.

Question 7

Give one quote from psychedelic review, Day of Pentecost and Julian of Norwich that supports Pahnke’s feature- a sense of sacredness.

Answer 7

PR= “Deep sense of awe’.

DOP= “Amazed and marvelled”.

J= “In this little thing, I saw 3 properties 1. That God made it 2.That God loves it and 3. That God keeps it.”

Question 8

Give one quote from psychedelic review, Day of Pentecost and Julian of Norwich that supports Happold’s feature the oneness of everything.

Answer 8

PR= “Oneness”.

DOP= “They were all one”.

J= “Oned to him”.

Question 9

Give one quote from psychedelic review that supports Happold’s feature of sense of timelessness and Pahnke’s feature of paradoxicality.

Answer 9

H= “Profound sense of reality”.

P= “Paradoxically it as the music itself”.

Question 10

What does the Prayer of Purgation consist of?

Answer 10

• A need to pursue the path.
• A calling or choice.
• Engage in the mystic path.
• Sin must go completely along with the tendency to sin.

Question 11

What does the Prayer of Contemplation consist of?

Answer 11

• Spending time with God.
• God decides when this stage begins.
• Words, images and feelings become unnecessary.
• “I look at him and he looks at me, occasionally we say a word to each other.”
• “Dark night of the soul”- John of Cross.

Question 12

What does the Prayer of Union consist of?

Answer 12

• Most advanced stage of ecstasy.
• Ineffable.
• Deification- realisation of the difference between the holy and the divine.
• Intensity leads to a sense of identification.

Question 13

What are the 5 different types of visions?

Answer 13

1. Corporeal- the object is external but only visible to one person e.g. St Bernadette of Lourdes.
2. Imaginative- No existence externally, produced in a person’s mind e.g. Jacob’s ladder.
3. Intellectual- brings knowledge and understanding such as a revelation from God. E.g. Julian of Norwich.
4. Private/Individual- only seen by one person, e.g. St B of Lourdes.
5. Corporate/Group- seen by more than one person e.g. the Battle of Mons.

Question 14

What are the criticisms of visions?

Answer 14

1. Corporeal- No way of verifying as it is only accessible to one person, could be lying for attention, all interpreted differently and could be a result of medical materialism.
2. Imaginative- Could be a dream, a wild imagination, drug induced or wishful thinking.
3. Intellectual- Biased as the message will always be interpreted differently based on the person, could be used as a social construct- as people are more likely to conform they believe the information has come from a higher power.
4. Individual- can’t be verified by anyone.
5. Group- No accounts from the time of anything drastic or unusual happening, alleged eye witnesses only came forward at a later date coincidentally after a popular short story about a bowman came out. Mentality of soldiers, drug induced and wishful thinking. (Battle of Mons specific).

Question 15

Why did St Teresa and St John of Cross oppose some visions?

Answer 15

• Claimed they may be work of the devil and should be ignored if they go against God’s will.
• Visions produced by the devil cause people to lose their holy fear meaning they will become un-virtuous.
• “They themselves fabricate what they fancy”- wishful thinking could lead to someone believing they had a genuine vision.
• These false visions don’t produce any effects on mentality of a person and are therefore un useful.

Question 16

What content do visions typically contain?

Answer 16

• An image or event in which there is a message e.g. “do not call anything empire that God has made clean”- Peter no longer needing to follow Jewish dietary rules.
• Places (Heaven/Hell) e.g. Revelation 20: “The lake of fire and the second death”.
• Fantastic creatures/figures e.g. Ezekiel “four faces and four wings”.
• Future (end of the world/final judgement) e.g. revelation 20 “the dead were judged”.

Question 17

Define “conversion”.

Answer 17

• A conversion is defined as “to change direction or turn around”.
• “A process to religious change which transforms the way the individual perceives the rest of society and his or her personal place in it- altering one’s view”.- McGuire.
• “As a result of their experiences many are led to prayer and religion”-Hardy.

Question 18

How did William James describe “conversion”?

Answer 18

• Understanding of conversion is a psychological mechanism rather than miraculous.
• “The unifying of the inner self”.
• Experience is always seen as valid even if it isn’t verifiably a religious experience- it’s the fruits that count.
• Being “regenerated”.

Question 19

What are James’ key features of Conversion?

Answer 19

1. A process- evolving character that is straightened out during a conversion experience, the person is often unhappy before the experience.
2. Gradual or sudden- sudden- Saul to Paul, radical life change.
3. Self divided become unified- “Sick souls” driven by the feeling of leading two lives, a natural and a spiritual an “healthy minded” wants to strive for a better self.
4. Volitional/self surrender- Volitional= the individual must give up, relinquish their personal will. Self surrender=there must be a point in which they give up and strives for change.
5. Passive or active.
6. Transforming- passing from one state to another, St Paul described himself as “a new man, a new creation”.

Question 20

What are Caroline Frank Davis’ features of revelation?

Answer 20

1. Sudden and short.
2. New knowledge acquired immediately.
3. New knowledge comes from an external agent.
4. Alleged new knowledge is received with utter conviction.
5. The insights are often impossible to put into words.

Question 21

What is the specific content of revelations?

Answer 21

1. Universal truths- e.g. the Buddha.
2. The future- Hildegard of Bingen claimed to experience God overshadow her life. Claiming God given insight into future events.
3. The present- Benny Hinn- words of knowledge from God.
4. Spiritual help- William James in his chapter on mysticism “one day in prayer, on the steps of the choir of the Dominican church, he saw a distinct manner the plan of divine wisdom in creating the world.

Believed to receive God given knowledge brings great status and value.

Question 22

What are Rambo and Farhadain’s 7 stages of conversion?

Answer 22

1. Context= the starting point and who the person is e.g. “Saul approved their killing him”.
2. Crisis= destabilisation of religious faith e.g. “Lord Jesus forgive my spirit”.
3. Quest= the person searches for helpful and alternative approaches e.g. C.S. Lewis who spoke to religious people.
4. Encounter= meets a truly spiritual person of the religion. e.g. Nicki Cruz an the Pasteur.
5. Interaction= seeker finds new religious community that better suits them.
6. Commitment= ritually joins the faith, “Preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the son of God’- changes his name and becomes an apostle.
7. Consequence= the person participates in the new faith community whilst continuing to learn more about its ways.

Question 23

What do Lofland and Shnovd identify as conversion motifs?

Answer 23

1. No faith to faith- e.g. St Augustine received a “calling” to read the bible and C.S. Lewis went through various different faiths until he found Christianity “I felt as though I were a man of snow, slowly beginning to melt”.
2. One faith to another- more verifiable and believable as they have to reject their previous way of life, admit that they were wrong and there is more stigma attached by going to one faith to another.
3. Faith believing to faith trusting- “This is a movement from academic acceptance of scripture to personal trust”. E.g. Martin Luther King.

Question 24

What are 6 patterns of religious conversion?

Answer 24

1. Intellectual- intensive study with little impersonal contact. (Davey Falcus).
2. Mystical - sudden and dramatic sometimes accompanied by dreams or visions (St Paul).
3. Experimental- actively assessing the religion over a period of time through participation (C.S Lewis).
4. Affectional- involves contact with other members of the religion and experiencing love and nurturing (Nicki Cruz).
5. Revivalist- Occurs in revivalist meetings,usually involves emotions (e.g. Nicki Cruz).
6. Coercive- Persuasive.

Question 25

What are Stark and Lofland’s processes of conversion?

Answer 25

1. Tension- similar to crisis stage.
2. Religious Problem solving perspective- seeks solutions with religious perspective many of the friends of the buddhist order were initially interested in meditation.
3. Seekership= converts become seekers, e.g. seeking the meaning of life FWBO convert- step mother died.
4. Turning point= pre converts perceived a turning point un their lives before their encounter with a new religious movement.
5. Affective Bond= strong bond between believer and the potential convert makes them more willing to convert.
6. Weak extra cult attachment = makes it easier for the person to be swept up in the religion.
7. Intensive interaction= New friendships are developed among believers and a “family” is formed. Jesus army convert: “The spiritual power that I felt here also the sense of family and brotherhood”.