Religious Experience Key Words Flashcards
Conversion experience
A change of heart and truning around of one’s priorities following a new direction of life
Corporate religious experience
A religious experience shared with many people
Numinous experience
Experiences of awe and wonder in the presence of God
William James definition
‘The feelings, acts and experiences of individual men in their solitude’
Principle of credulity
Things are as they seem unless we have evidence to the contrary
Principle of testimony
We should believe people are telling the truth unless we have good reason to believe otherwise
Passive
Cannot be actively sought
Noetic
Provide some kind of insight or carry a message
Ineffable
So extraordinary they can’t be described
Trasient
Experience only lasts a short time but leaves impressions of being important
Pragmatism
A concept is considered true if it works satisfactorily in practice
Pluralism
All religions are valuable and hold truth
Volitional conversion
A gradual change and slow development of new moral and spiritual observations
Mystical experience
A direct experience of God or ultimate reality, a sense of oneness of all things; beyond normal awareness
Self-surrender conversion
A sudden, pivotal or crisis experience followed by change
