Types of Religious Experiences

Question 1

Name the 5 types of religious experience

Answer 1

• Conversion
• Prayer
• Numinous
• Mystical experience
• Near death experience (not in spec)

Question 2

Explain the conversion experience

Answer 2

• offers evidence for the nature of God

- person sees a vision, feeling of awe, wonder and humility before the majesty of God

Question 3

Example of conversion experience

Answer 3

• Nicky Cruz

- Paul (Saul) on road to Damascus - converted form Judaisms to Christianity

Question 4

In Christianity what are the 7 types of prayer in the Bible

Answer 4

• Blessing
• Adoration
• Asking forgiveness
• Intercession
• Petition
• Thanksgiving
• Praise

Question 5

Explain Prayer experience

Answer 5

• in a sense all RE is about Prayer - communication with the divine
• prayer is the conviction that something is genuinely transacted, that things that cannot be realised in any other way come about

Question 6

Examples of answered prayer, William Temple quote

Answer 6

“when i pray, coincidences happen, and when i don’t, they don’t”

Question 7

What is the Numinous often described as?

Answer 7

The feeling of being in the presence of something greater than yourself
- an experience of awe and wonder in the presence of an almighty and transcending being (God)

Question 8

What do many testimonies claim about this type of religious experience (numinous)

Answer 8

sense of being in a presence of an awesome power, yet feeling distinctly separate from it

Question 9

What did Rudolf OTTO claim the Numinous experiences are?

Answer 9

Key to understanding spirituality in religion

Question 10

Example of Numinous in the Bible

Answer 10

Moses’ vision of the burning bush

Question 11

What is a mystical experience

Answer 11

A person experiences the ultimate reality with a sense of unity with the divine, separateness from the divine and dependence from the divine

Question 12

What are the two types of mystical experiences?

Answer 12

• theistic mysticism

- monistic mysticism

Question 13

What is theistic mysticism

Answer 13

awareness of God

Question 14

What is monistic mysticism

Answer 14

awareness of soul, self and conscience

Question 15

What are the 4 characteristics that William James says are associated with mystic experiences

Answer 15

• ineffability
• noetic quality
• transiency
• passivity

Question 16

Define ineffability

Answer 16

state of feeling which defines description

Question 17

Define noetic quality

Answer 17

revelations of universal and eternal truths

Question 18

define transiency

Answer 18

a brief but profound important experience

Question 19

define passivity

Answer 19

a feeling of being taken over by a superior authority

Question 20

Mysticism can be what

2 things

Answer 20

Extrovertive

Introvertive

Question 21

Define extrovertive

Answer 21

looking outwards to see God in the world

Question 22

define introvertive

Answer 22

person looks within themselves and see their personal identity being merged with the divine unity

Question 23

What is a near death experience

Answer 23

When someone dies for a short period of time and is resuscitated before the state becomes irreversible

Question 24

What do many people claim happens during a near death experience

Answer 24

• claim to have floated out of their bodies
• travelled down a tunnel of light where they have encountered either a dead relative or religious figure form their own tradition

Question 25

Who discovered many similarities between testimonies of NDE

Answer 25

Raymond Moody

Question 26

However what problems did Raymond Moody also highlight

Answer 26

• experient could be dreaming
• remembering some lost subconscious memory
• having hallucinations due to lack of oxygen to the brain

Question 27

What did K. Ring say

Answer 27

“Near death experiences are individually unique, but appear to have a common pattern of ‘core experiences’.”