The nature and influence of religious experience

Question 1

What do theists believe?

Answer 1

God interacts with them personally, religious experiences reinforce their belief in god and act of proof of his existence.

Question 2

Give four different ways in which religious experiences have been described

Answer 2

1. Schleiermacher- an experience that offers a sense of the ultimate. 2. Tillich- a feeling of ultimate concern. 3. James- gives a person an overwhelming experience of joy and reverence. 4. Copleston- a loving but unclear awareness of some object which irresistibly seems to the experiencer as something transcending the self.

Question 3

How are religious experiences seen in four religions?

Answer 3

1. Judaism- part of the natural world order, god reveals himself frequently as with the burning bush. 2. Christianity- god contacts humans with direct personal revelation ie, Saul. 3. Islam- visions experienced by the prophet Mohammed in a cave outside of Mecca formed the Koran. 4. Sikhism- Guru Nanak had a religious experience whilst bathing in the river Ganges.

Question 4

Who was Ramakrishna?

Answer 4

A Hindu mystic who dedicated his life to achieving unity with the divine. He practiced Bhakti and became obsessed with Kali and began seeing her in all things- he even worshipped the temple cat as her. This single pointed awareness is at the heart of advaita Vedanta; that everything is really divine.

Question 5

List two common themes of religious experience

Answer 5

Direct- the experient feels that they are in contact with god. Indirect- an inner experience of god’s immanence and the feeling of him acting on the world.

Question 6

In which seven ways does Caroline franks Davis identify religious experiences in ‘the evidential force of religious experience’?

Answer 6

1. Awareness- seeing the work of god in the world. 2. Quasi sensory- having a vision of god. 3. Numinous- encountering the holiness of god. 4. Regenerative- a dramatic conversion. 5. Interpretive- having prayers answered. 6. Mystical- having a sense of the ultimate reality. 7. Revelatory- receiving enlightenment.

Question 7

Describe Saul’s dramatic conversion experience

Answer 7

Saul was a Jew who hated the influence Christianity was having on others, one day whilst on the road to Damascus’s a light shone down upon him and a voice asked ‘Saul, why are you persecuting me?” The men with Saul heard the voice, but saw no one. Saul was left blind and did not eat/drink for three days.

Meanwhile, god appealed to Ananias, a disciple and told him to tell Saul that he had been chosen by god to bring his name to the people of Israel. When he did this, the scales fell from Saul’s eyes, he ate and drank and was baptized into the Christian faith. His experience was unusual as he converted from one deep faith to another deep faith, his conversion was lifelong and he would later die for it.

Question 8

Why was Saul’s experience convincing?

Answer 8

He went from hating Christians to being convinced that Jesus was the messiah, he would eventually be martyred for his beliefs, the fact that he was willing to die for his beliefs adds a lot of weight to the experience.

Question 9

What classic phenomena of religious experiences were demonstrated in Saul’s experience?

Answer 9

1. It was both visual and auditory. 2. He was convinced he was in god’s presence. 3. The men with him heard a voice, but saw nothing. 4. He was left temporarily blind. 5. He experienced a complete conversion.

Question 10

What is the problem with Saul’s religious experience?

Answer 10

He suffered from epilepsy, which was not well understood and seen as shameful, the event could have been a grand mal seizure which he covered up. That said, Christianity does not rise or fall on if the experience was a seizure as it could have been god delivering his message to Saul in the only way he could.

Question 11

What is a dramatic or conversion event?

Answer 11

Adopting a new religious belief owing to the dramatic nature of a religious experience. The experience leaves the person with a greater understanding of faith and the adoption of a religious way of life.

Question 12

What are the two types of conversion experience?

Answer 12

1- Conscious/voluntary, these come gradually with the person becoming more aware of new moral and spiritual habits. The person is totally involved in the conversion. This is more likely to be a permanent and intellectual conversion.
2-Involuntary/unconscious- a sudden experience of the self surrender type. A person experiencing this may know little about their new faith and may later learn more of it and reject it.

Question 13

What are the three categories of conversion events?

Answer 13

1- Intellectual, a change in the way of thinking about religion. 2. Moral conversion- a change in behavior. 3. Social conversion- acceptance of a new social group or way of worship.

Question 14

Give four ways of describing a numinous experience

Answer 14

1. Dramatic/conversion events are usually numinous in nature. 2. They inspire awe and wonder in the presence of an almighty god. 3. They are an awareness of human nothingness when faced with god. 4. An example would be when inside a religous building, one may be filled with the awareness that there is something greater then them.

Question 15

What did Rudolph Otto argue in ‘the idea of the holy’?

Answer 15

All religious experiences are numinous in nature, they contain: mysterium tremendum- a fearful mystery and mysterium fascinans- their tendency to fascinate and compel. The experient feels like they are in communion with another level of reality, the experience acts as a reference point from which they interpret the world.

Question 16

How did Otto think about other types of religious experience?

Answer 16

He was aware that some claims of experiences differed from his descriptions of the numinous, he did not take these seriously and said that numinous experiences where the only true type of religious experience and were at the heart of all religion.

Question 17

List two criticisms of Otto

Answer 17

1. His description of the numinous is ambiguous, according to Gaskin an atheist could argue that, given the varieties of Otto’s description of the numinous, all numinous experiences are open to non religious interpretations and that those who interpret such events religiously are doing so based on prior religious beliefs. 2. If they are ineffable then what can we learn from them? If we can’t express them then comparisons between different experiences become impossible, how can the numinous be the basis of all religion if we can’t describe it in order to verify it?

Question 18

List a third criticism of Otto

Answer 18

Not all religious experiences fit with his description and he does not explain why he rejects these. Some religions describe the ultimate reality in a way that differs to the one described by Otto such as the Hindu view of merging with the divine. Differences suggest Otto was wrong in arguing for numinous experiences as the basis for religion, also, why does Christianity have to be the ultimate expression of the divine?

Question 19

What was the role of William James?

Answer 19

American philosopher who wrote ‘the varieties of religious experience; a study in human nature.’ He aimed to form a common core of religious experiences through studying case studies of first hand religious experiences.

Question 20

List five points about how James saw the validity of religious experience

Answer 20

1. They are at the heart of all religion and all else is seen as second hand religion. He analyzed a range of forms of experience. 2. He viewed conversion as a transformation from a divided self to a more unified consciousness. 3. His book focused on firs hand accounts which he saw as central to understanding any religion, he wanted to examine these experiences objectively and not try to prove them true or false. 4. He believed that all experiences indicate the probability of god and he was particularly interested in the effects they had upon people’s lives as a way of testing their validity. 5. For him, the phenomena of religious experiences points to a higher order of reality.

Question 21

What is James’ pragmatism?

Answer 21

We can never establish what it true in an infallible way, we decide what is true based on what works for us practically. Religious experiences express truth in pragmatic terms and help individuals to improve and make sense of the world and their lives.

Question 22

Give four points on James’ view on religious experience.

Answer 22

1. Even if we can find a psychological explanation for the experience, the spiritual value of it is not undone and he strongly rejected Freud’s view. 2. He defined them as ‘the feelings, acts and experiences of individual men in their solitude so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine. 3. Experiences of figures such as St. Theresa can set patterns for conventional believers to study. 4. Religious experiences were more important then the study of religious institutions.

Question 23

What were the four key characteristics of religious experience presented by James?

Answer 23

1. Passive- the experient is not in control. 2. Ineffable- they are beyond human description. 3. Noetic- the experient is left with knowledge they could only have gotten via a religious experience. 4. Transient- they are short lived and fleeting.

Question 24

List three strengths of James’ view

Answer 24

1- Quantity, religion based on experience has been a powerful force through history, Hay estimates 40% of people have had a religious experience. 2. Effects- the effects are powerful and positive and are hard to explain without god. 3. Similarities- there are considerable similarities between experiences that couldn’t exist if they were made up.

Question 25

List six weaknesses of James’ view.

Answer 25

1. Russell- you can be profoundly effected by an experience, this does not mean the experience comes from god. 2. Flew- states which can’t be tested empirically are meaningless. 3. The study is too subjective and focuses too much on the truth of the experience for the individual as opposed to relating it to a god who exists in the real world. 4. He does not show that there must be a god. 5. Believers all claim their experiences prove their faith, they can’t all be right!. 6. Believers tend to interpret their experience in light of their existing faith.

Question 26

What is a mystical experience?

Answer 26

One in which the believer feels on the same level of understanding and being as god whilst retaining an awareness of the self

Question 27

What is a revelatory experience?

Answer 27

One in which god makes himself directly known and the person having the experience acquires new knowledge. It can either be general- available to all at all times, such as the beauty of creation, special- god revealing himself to particular persons.

Question 28

What are the two types of revelatory experience?

Answer 28

1. Propositional revelation- god communicates his divine message to a human. Examples include the 10 commandments and the Quran. These texts are seen as factual. 2. Non propositional revelation- through a religious experience, a personal comes to a realization about a divine truth, an example is the Bible which is a collection of perceptions of religious believers. It can be seen in god reveling himself through the beauty of nature and an experience of god in everyday life. This is about how you interpret revelation in your everyday life, propositional revelation is not open to interpretation.

Question 29

What two ways did St. Theresa propose to see if an experience is genuine?

Answer 29

1. Does it fit with the Christian teachings? 2. Does it leave the individual feeling at peace?

Question 30

What is a corporate religious experience?

Answer 30

One whcih happens to two or more people simultaneously, it arguable you carries more weight because of the number of people testifying to it. However, they can be put down to mob psychology, mass hysteria or fraud.

Question 31

Give two famous corporate experiences

Answer 31

1. 1994 Toronto blessing at Toronto vineyard church, members were effected by the holy sprit, many began laughing, weeping, rolling on the floor or making animal noises. 2. 1917 miracle of the sun in Portugal, the Virgin Mary had previously appeared to Shepard children, promising that she would provide a sign, the miracle took place in front of 70,000 people, the sun ‘danced’ and the wet ground dried.

Question 32

What is a near death experience?

Answer 32

When someone ‘dies’ then is resuscitated, Ring and Fenwick identified key characteristics such as a feeling of peace, entering darkness, seeing a light, crossing a barrier and making a decision to return. They often have profound effects upon people’s lives.

Question 33

How does Hans Kung define mystical experiences?

Answer 33

A closing of the senses and dissolving of the self, it emphasizes the internal and personal side of religion and is a reaction against organized religion which centers on the external side of religion.

Question 34

How did William James define mystical experiences?

Answer 34

The primary experiences of all humans, they all point to the same ultimate reality, people just interpret them in terms of their existing religion.

Question 35

What is theistic mysticism, give two examples of theistic mystics

Answer 35

1. An awareness of god 2. One noted example was St. Theresa of Avila who revived many mystical visions and felt the presence of god within herself. 3. Julian of Norwich was a religious recuse whose religious visions enabled her to live a life dedicated to god.

Question 36

What is monistic mysticism, give an example of a monistic mystic

Answer 36

1. An awareness of the soul, self and conscious, generally more accepted them theistic mysticism. 2. One noted example was Ramakrishna who became so aware of god within all things that he began worshiping a temple cat as the goddess Kali.

Question 37

What are the five types of prayer?

Answer 37

1. Adoration- praising god. 2. Confession. 3. Thanksgiving. 4. Petition- asking god for something. 5. Intercession- asking god to help others who need him.

Question 38

Describe the religious experience of prayer

Answer 38

It deepens one’s faith and helps them understand god. He replies to prayer in different ways, and not always the way in which the person might have wanted. It plays a large role in the theistic tradition, but is less important in the monistic tradition as the believer is not seeking a personal relationship with god when they pray.

Question 39

What is mediation?

Answer 39

Crucial to the monist tradition, it is a belief that through meditation, the experient can gain knowledge of the divine. Hindus use chanting, asanas and deep concentration to enable them to connect with the divine.

Question 40

How is meditation viewed in the theistic tradition?

Answer 40

It has a lower status. It is used by orthotic Christians in the form of the Lord’s Prayer, which is chanted to clear the mind and bring peace, whilst Roman Catholics use the rosary to mediate on the life of Jesus.