The Nature of religious experience Flashcards
What did Ed Miller regard religious experiences as?
“The pursuit of the transcendent, unitive experience with absolute reality.”
The 4 qualities that are present throughout all religious expereinces as per William James are?
-Ineffability
-Noetic quality
-Transiency [change in time]
-Passivity [loss of power].
What is a ‘mystical ascent’?
-Some religious mystics speak about a ladder that begins in the earthly world and where an individual with some practice and assistance, can transcend their own reality and ascend the ladder to gain unity with the ulitmate reality.
-A metaphorical journey from darkness to light.
What does transcendent mysticism do?
It takes the practitioner ‘beyond’ the realm of the ‘everyday’.
What are Transcendental realities often described as?
They are described as otherworldly, which is a rather vague description of moving beyond the physical realm to the ‘other’: the realm of the spirit.
What do ecstatic and unitive experiences entail?
The believer may feel they have become ‘one’ with the ultimate, transcendent reality, whilst temporarily disengaging from the physical world of the empirical senses.
What did ST Bernard of Calirvaux do?
The French Cistercian Abbott described the experience of ‘mutuality of love’
What did Teresa of Avila believe in?
Teresa of Avila believed it was impossible for an individual to achieve union with God by us, but only through God’s grace could a person move through the various stages. [USE THIS IN EXAMS]
What did Teresa of Avila describe?
Teresa describes the prayer of consolation from god, better known as the ‘prayer of quiet’. She describes this as a state where humans.
List the philospher and what category they fall into?
William James= Catergoriser
Rudolf Otto= Transcendent mystic
Martin Buber= Imminent mystic
