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, acting as proof of his existence.

Question 2

Give four descriptions of religious experiences

Answer 2

1. Tillich- ultimate concern. 2. Schleiermacher- sense of the ultimate. 3. James- joy and reverence. 4. Copleston- loving but unclear awareness of some object which irresistibly seems to the experiencer as something transcending the self.

Question 3

How do four religions see religious experiences?

Answer 3

1. Judaism- part of the natural world order- Moses and the burning bush. 2. Christianity- god contacts human with direct personal revelation- Saul. 3. Islam- visions experienced by the prophet Mohammed in the cave outside of Mecca formed the Quran. 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, became obsessed with Kali and began seeing her in all things such as a temple cat. This single pointed awareness is at the heart of advaita Vedanta, that everything is divine.

Question 5

What are the two forms of religious experience?

Answer 5

1. Direct- the experient feels that they are in contact with god. 2. Indirect- an inner experience of god’s immanence and the feeling of him acting on the world.

Question 6

Give seven ways Caroline franks Davis identified religious experiences in ‘the evidential force of religious experience’

Answer 6

1. Awareness. 2. Revelatory. 3. Regenerative. 4. Quasi sensory. 5. Mystical. 6. Numinous. 7. Interpretive.

Question 7

Describe Saul’s dramatic conversion

Answer 7

Saul was a Jew who hated the influence Christianity was having on others, one day 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 appeared 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, drank and was baptized into the Christian faith. His experience was unusual as he converted from one deep faith to another, his conversion was lifelong and he would later die for it.

Question 8

Why was Saul’s experience convincing?

Answer 8

Went from hating Christianity to being convinced that Jesus was the messiah, he would be martyred for his beliefs, the fact he was willing to die for his faith adds weight to his experience.

Question 9

What classical phenomena of religious experience did Saul experience?

Answer 9

1. Both visual and auditory. 2. Convinced he was in the presence of the divine. 3. Men with him heard the voice, but saw nothing. 4. Was left temporarily blind. 5. Experienced a complete conversion.

Question 10

What is the issue with Saul’s experience?

Answer 10

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

Question 11

What is a dramatic conversion event?

Answer 11

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

Question 12

What are the two types of conversion experience?

Answer 12

1. Conscious- comes gradually, with one becoming more aware of new moral and spiritual habits. You are totally involved and this is more likely to be a permanent and intellectual conversion. 2. Unconscious- sudden self surrender experience. You may know little about your new faith and may abandon it once you learn more.

Question 13

What are the three categories of conversion event?

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Give four ways of describing a numinous experience

Answer 14

1. Usually takes the form of a dramatic conversion event. 2. Inspires awe and wonder in the presence of an almighty god. 3. Awareness of human nothingness when faced with god. 4. The feeling that there is something greater then you, experienced whilst in a religious building.

Question 15

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

Answer 15

All religious experiences are numinous, they contain mysterium tremendum- a fearful mystery and mysterium fascinans- they fascinate and compel. One feels as if they are in communion with another level of reality and the experience acts as a reference point from which one interprets the world.

Question 16

How did Otto see other types of religious experience?

Answer 16

He did not take them seriously, he argued that numinous experiences were the only real type of religious experience and were at the heart of all religion.

Question 17

Give two criticisms of Otto

Answer 17

1. If religious experiences are ineffable, what can we learn from them? If we can’t describe them and their differences, then we can’t compare them so the numinous can’t be the basis of all religion as we can’t even describe it. 2. Gaskin- his description of the numinous is ambiguous so is open to non religious interpretations and atheists could argue that those who interpret such events religiously are doing so based on prior religious beliefs.

Question 18

Give a third criticism of Otto

Answer 18

Not all religious experiences fit with his description with the numinous. These differences suggest Otto was wrong in arguing for numinous experiences as the basis of 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, 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

Give five ways James saw religious experiences

Answer 20

1. They are at the heart of religion, all else is second hand religion. 2. Conversion is a transformation from a divided self to a more unified consciousness. 3. He focused on first hand accounts which he saw as central to understanding religion, he wanted to examine them objectively and not try to prove them. 4. Experiences indicate the probability of god, especially in the impact they have upon peoples’ lives. 5. They point to a higher order of reality.

Question 21

What is James’ pragmatism?

Answer 21

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

Question 22

What four things did James say about religious experiences?

Answer 22

1. Rejected Freud’s view, even if we can find a psychological explanation, the spiritual value is not undone. 2. ‘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 people such as St. Theresa can set patterns for conventional believers to follow. 4. The study of them is more important then the study of religious institutions.

Question 23

What are James’ four characteristics of religious experiences?

Answer 23

1. Passive- it comes to the individual unbidden. 2. Ineffable- it is beyond human language. 3. Noetic- you are left with information you could only have gained through a religious experience. 4. Transient- it is short lived and fleeting.

Question 24

Give three strengths of James’ view

Answer 24

1. Quantity- religious experiences have been powerful forces throughout history, with Hay estimating 40% of people have had them. 2. Effects- they are powerful and positive and hard to explain without god. 3. Similarities- considerable similarities between experiences couldn’t exist if they were made up.

Question 25

Give six weaknesses of James

Answer 25

1. Russell- you can be profoundly effected by an experience, this doesn’t mean it comes from god . 2. Flew- states which can’t be tested empirically are meaningless. 3. Too subjective, focusses 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. Doesn’t show that there must be a god. 5. Believers claim religious 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

The believer feels on the same level of understanding and being of god whilst retaining an awareness of self.

Question 27

What is a revelatory experience?

Answer 27

God makes himself known directly to the person and they acquire new knowledge. General- available to all people at all times, the beauty of creation. Specific- god reveals himself to a particular person.

Question 28

What are the two types of revelation?

Answer 28

1. Propositional- god communicates his divine message to someone, factual texts such as the Quran and 10 commandments. Not open to interpretation. 2. Non propositional- through a religious experience a person comes to a realization of a divine truth. The Bible is non propositional revelation as it is a collection of the perceptions of believers. Can be seen in god revealing himself through nature and is all about how you interpret revelation in everyday life.

Question 29

What two ways did St. Theresa propose to test if a religious experience was valid?

Answer 29

1. Does it leave the individual feeing at peace? 2. Does it fit with the Christian teaching?

Question 30

What is a corporate religious experience?

Answer 30

Happens to two or more people simultaneously, carries more weight owing to the amount of people testifying to it. However, can be put down to mass hysteria, mob psychology 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, 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

Someone ‘dies’ and is resuscitated, Ring and Fenwick identified key characteristics; feeling peace, entering darkness, seeing a light, crossing a barrier and making a decision to return. They often have profound effects on peoples’ lives.

Question 33

How does Hans Kung define mystical experiences?

Answer 33

Closing of the senses and dissolving of the self, emphasizes the internal and personal side of religion and is a reaction to organized religion which centers on the external side of religion.

Question 34

How did William James define mystical experiences?

Answer 34

Primary experiences of 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?

Answer 35

1. An awareness of god. 2. St. Theresa of Avila received mystical visions and felt the presence of god within herself. 3. Julian do Norwich was a religious recluse whose visions enabled her to live a life dedicated to god.

Question 36

What is monistic mysticism?

Answer 36

1. Awareness of the soul, self and conscious, more accepted then theistic mysticism. 2. Ramakrishna became so aware of god within all things that he began worshipping a temple cat as the goddess Kali.

Question 37

What are the five types of prayer?

Answer 37

1. Thanksgiving. 2. Intercession. 3. Confession. 4. Adoration. 5. Petition.

Question 38

Descibe prayer

Answer 38

Deepens one’s faith and helps you understand god. He replies to prayer in different ways and not always the way you ask. Plays a huge 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 meditation?

Answer 39

Crucial to the monist tradition, through meditation the experient can gain knowledge of the divine. Hindus use chaining, asanas and deep concentration to connect with the divine.

Question 40

How does theism see meditation?

Answer 40

Has a lower status. Used by orthodox Christians in the Lord’s Prayer which is chanted to clear the mind and bring peace, Roman Catholics use the rosary to meditate on the life of Jesus.