Religious Experiences: Defining a RE

Question 1

Overall definition

Answer 1

• an experience with religious significance

- a person’s experience of something/ a presence beyond themselves

Question 2

Rudolph Otto’s definition

Answer 2

• a numinous experience (sensing you are in the presence of a divine power/ experiencing “The Other”)
• our mind can never give us cognitive knowledge of God, but a RE can

Question 3

Williams James’ definition

Answer 3

• strong emphasis on what the experience means for the person
• “feeling, acts + experiences of individual men in their solitude”
  1. Passive: cannot be actively sought or created
  2. Ineffable: so extraordinary it cannot be described
  3. Noetic: carry a message of revelation/truth
  4. Transcient: brief, yet intense experience

Question 4

Swinburne’s definition

Answer 4

1. Public experiences
   - Normal when interpreted in a religious context
   - witnessing an unusual event with others
2. Private experiences
   - Private experience that may be conveyed using normal language
   - private experience that cannot be explained using normal language
   - an ongoing impression of a presence based on no specific evidence