religious experience

william james four crtieria

ineffable

noetic - knowledge gained

transient

passive

william james on the universality of Re

the fact they all share charachterisitics accross various cultures,times and religions is evidence RE comes from a higher spiritual reality

James on RE significance

they are the core of religion, scripture and tradition is second hand religion

paul knitter well

each religion is a well if you get down to the bottom you realise they are all fed from the same source

counter to james pluralist explanation

the similariaties could have a naturalistic explanation e.g we evolved in same way

james pragmatism argument

unlike hallucinations RE can have profound effects on person, meaning its likely they are not mere hallucination

William james on conversion experiences

conversion experiences are transformations from an unhappy divided self to unifed unguilty state.

counter to james pragmatism

hallucations can be life changing, the extent of change is based upon pre-exisitng beliefs about significance of hallucination. compare atheist and theist who hallucinate an angel.

Swinburne on what evidence is

if we experience something or someone tells us they experienced something that is evidence for it being probably true

swinburne principle of credulity

you should believe what you experience unless you have reason not to

swinburne principle of testimony

you should believe what others tell you they have experienced unless you have evidence not to

critique of swinburnes principles of testimony and crediluty

extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

freud on what religion is derrived from

fear of death

desire for eternal innocence

desert hallucination example

a person strnaded in desert dying of thirst can be so desperate for water they hallucinate it, same way religious people desperate for god so they hallucinate

critique of freud in response to mystical experiences and his response

Me seem to go far beyond wish fufilment because of the sense of unity and there unique nature totally sperate from ordinary sense experience. however freud argues that ME can be understood as the reliving of childhood before the self was formed which explains the sense of dissolving and unity

schliemacher on RE

religious experiences are self authenticating and that RE have priority over scripture. the catholic tradition of testing RE against theology is wrong we should be using RE as a standard to test tradition

persinger challenge to RE

created God helmet which stimulated RE

criticism of Persinger and his defence

its possible that God stimuates RE through the brain, his explanation doesnt disprove the supernatural. However he has shown a naturalistic explanation is possible and using ockhams razor we should trust simplest explanation

what is conversion experience and famous example

conversion experience include any RE (can be corporal or mere visions) which influence someone to convert to a new religion. the most famous example is saul to paul

freud on conversion experience and the defence

can still be explained as wish fufilment, however this seems harder to do when the conversion is from one religion to another

biblical coporate experience

“all of them were filled with the holy spirit and began to speak in tongues” - acts2:3

criticism of validity of coporate RE

can be explained by group social dynamics, theres strong evidence of wanting to fit in, so brain could hallucinate to meet that desire to fit in

multiple claims issue

evidence for one religion must be taken as evidence against all others

pluralism response to multiple claims issue

no reason to suggest all religions can tbe true, same god can reveal itself in different ways dependent on the beliefs and understanding of that person. for hick different religions are just part of the cultural lens through which we see the world