Religious Experience Key Terms Flashcards
Religious Experience
An encounter with the divine as a personal reality in a persons life.
Vision
A vision can be defined as something seen other than by ordinary sight, i.e. a supernatural or prophetic sight, especially one that conveys a revelation or
message of some form.
Dreams
Not normally be available in the conscious state.
E.g. Wise Men were warned in a dream not to return to Herod.
Corporeal
Intellectual
message of inspiration, insight, instruction, or
warning. E.g. Muhammad receiving the words of the Qur’an from Angel Jibril
Sensory
Objects, sounds or figures appear before the recipient.
E.g. St Bernadette’s visions of the Virgin Mary.
Conversion
A conversion means to ‘change direction’ – a process of change that alters one’s view of the world and one’s personal place in it.
Ineffable
The experience of the divine goes beyond the
power of human description. It cannot be adequately verbalised or expessed with words or language.
Mysticism
Spiritual recognition of the truths beyond normal
understanding is revealed.
Noetic
An experience conveys illumination or truth:
it is a direct revelation from God. For example, Muhammad receiving the words of the Qur’an.
Transcendent
Experiences beyond this physical
realm.
Unitive
Uniting the soul with reality.
Ecstatic
Filling the soul with peace.
Passive
The individual is not in control rather governed by a being or force external to the will of the mystic.
Transient
Not permanent in time and cannot be sustained for
long. For example, St Paul’s sudden conversion on the road to Damascus through ‘self-surrender’.
