Religious Experience

What is a religious experience and what can it be described as?

A non-empirical occurrence that may be perceived as supernatural. Can be described as a mental event undergone by an aware individual, and is unique and non-shareable.

How can religious experiences be brought about?

They can be spontaneous or brought about as a result of training and self-discipline / meditation.

How do religious experiences link to connection with God?

Recipients say they are drawn into a deeper knowledge of God - it isn't a replacement for the divine but a vehicle to bring people closer to the divine.

What makes religious experiences mystical?

A sense of union is felt with the divine.

What are prayer experiences?

Experiences brought about by meditation and reflection.

What are conversion experiences?

Experiences with permanent and life-changing effects.

What is a Buddhist example of religious experience?

Siddhartha Gautama seeing the four sights (old sick dead holy)

What is an Old Testament example of religious experience?

Moses seeing the burning bush, sensing profound holiness and being told to lead Israelites out of Egypt into Canaan.

What is a New Testament example of religious experience?

Saul on the Damascus road being 'blinded' by Jesus after persecuting Christians - moment of insight, became St. Paul.

What is an Islamic example of religious experience?

Muhammad in the cave hearing the words of the Qur'an and being told to recite.

What three things do most religious experiences include?

A sense of wonder,

A sense of new insight and values,

A sense of holiness and profundity.

What is a religious experience in relation to the person?

It makes the person say "this is who I really am" or "this is what life is truly about", "this is what makes everything wonderful" etc.

What is empiricism?

Knowledge gained from experience.

What is a genuine experience?

Not definitely from God but without evidence it was faked.

How did William James approach religious experience?

Took a neutral and objective stance by speaking to those who had experiences. Devised four qualities to test effect and impact of experience.

What did James conclude about religious experience?

Reasonable hypothesis - there is a personal God who is interested in our lives. Not provable but can't be discounted just because we start from scepticism.

What were William James' pragmatist views?

Truth can be determined by effect and consequences. Does not focus on the experience itself being real but the value and effect of it - accounts of truth are not fixed but are whatever have value.

What are James' four qualities on testing religious experience?

Passivity, Ineffability, Noetic Quality, Transiency.

What is the quality of passivity in James' view on religious experience?

A loss of control to a more powerful being, overwhelming.

Even if experience is intended, self control is lost.

Individual can assume personalities, prophetic visions, or speak in tongues or foreign languages.

What is the quality of ineffability in James' view on religious experience?

Easiest feature to recognise but negative - people know there is something to be described but cannot do so e.g. St. Teresa of Avila.

Difficult to understand beyond one's own experience - imagine trying to describe green to someone who's never seen it.

What is the noetic quality in James' view on religious experience?

Gaining an insight and deeper understanding in an unconventional way.

Knowledge is grasped through perception, bringing realisation and understanding to one's faith.

What is the quality of transiency in James' view on religious experience?

Most experiences do not last long, often 2 mins to 2 hours. Time cannot always be remembered in an experience.

Duration may not be proportional to significance, e.g. a quick experience may be more powerful. Even if brief, the experience could be recognised again if reoccurred.

Emotional responses e.g. St. Paul seeing the "sudden light".

What is numinous?

Strong religious/spiritual quality that indicates presence of divinity or greatness.

Who was Rudolph Otto and what did he aim to discover?

A Protestant theologian who sought what made religious experiences religious.

What was Rudolph Otto's quote on the nature of a religious experience?

Mysterium tremendum et fascinans (Fearful, awe-inspiring fascinating mystery). A personal encounter with natural forces.

What were Otto's three factors commonly found in religious experiences?

Mystery, God's utmost importance, God's attractive yet dangerous nature.

What did Otto feel about mystery in religious experiences?

God is incomprehensible but can be met and his work seen. There is an understanding that God is not fully capturable or describable.

What did Otto feel about God's attractive yet dangerous nature in religious experiences?

God is uncontrollable - there is a sense of privilege but also a fear felt by the recipient.

What did Otto use numinous to describe?

Awe-inspiring holiness that could not be done justice by ordinary language, as religious experiences are not normal sensory events.

What did Otto feel about religious language?

Religious language is a 'schema' - an attempt to find clusters of words that approach an inexpressible idea. All recipient can do is describe own feelings rather than finding words for what gave rise to said feelings.

What feelings are common in a religious experience according to Otto and the concept of numinous?

Awe, majesty, fear or dread.

How did C.S. Lewis explain fear in the context of religious experience?

If we were near a tiger, we would feel fear due to danger. If we saw a ghost, however, the fear would not be of danger but of the uncanny - this is 'dread'. If we saw a spirit, we'd feel a sense of disturbance, shrinking, mystery and wonder.

This dread can be present in the concept of numinous - a fear of the uncanny nature of God's greatness and feeling small.

What types of experience can be considered mystical?

Dramatic visions, voices, sensory experiences including feeling God's presence.

What is the context behind FC Happold's studies?

People started to look outside of Christianity in 1960s to find spiritual meaning and truth. Focus on freedom.

What did FC Happold believe about mystical experience?

Can involve looking at Christianity and beyond - it is underlying in all religious forms, dependent on a non-rational and intuitive understanding.

What is Happold's quote on mysticism?

"Mysticism has in its fount the raw materials of all religion and is the inspiration of philosophy, poetry, art and music - a consciousness of the beyond."

What is Happold's quote on mystics and their consciousness?

"In a true mystic, there is an extension of normal consciousness, a release of latent powers and a widening of vision. Aspects of truth unplumbed by rational intellect are revealed,"

What four features did Happold deduce about mysticism?

- Mystics understand physical is only part of reality and see there is also a 'divine ground'.

- Human nature is such we can know of this divine ground beyond our reality through intuition (not reason).

- People have two natures - the conscious ego and the spiritual eternal self, the spark of divinity.

- Humanity's goal is to discover the eternal self and unite it with the divine ground.

What may conversion experiences include?

Sense of regeneration, divine truth, new attitude to life and a greater understanding of faith on a permanent or temporary level.

What are two common features recognisable in conversion experiences?

- A sense of wrongness in life the recipient wants to change.

- Positive changes in life that the recipient wants to make.

Who do conversion experiences commonly affect and how?

Those without faith - start with a rejection of faith until they gradually accept elements until a 'climax' is reached and the conversion is complete.

What is an intellectual conversion?

Conflict of two systems of thought - new belief is regarded as true and old is regarded as false. Based on rationality. e.g. Muhammad Ali, C.S. Lewis.

What is a moral conversion?

Focus on lifestyle rather than intellect - Leuba: "Religious life is moral - you feel morally imperfect and seek peace". e.g. Nicky Cruz going from gang leader to minister.

What is a social conversion?

Slow, subconscious conversion to accept different way of life/worship often including a sense of community. Followed by a rapid and sudden conscious experience from the subconscious intellect.

E.g. Cat Stevens

Why may conversion experiences not be genuine experiences?

Are they simply social/psychological realisations? - is it an experience in its own right, or does an experience lead to conversion? May be difficult to separate internal influences from external causes.

What did James say about conversion experiences?

"To say a man is converted, his peripheral religion is now central and forms habitual centre of energy."

What was Cat Stevens conversion experiences?

Suddenly contracted TB and saw a new perspective on life, going on a quest for higher spiritual understanding (moral conversion). Then had another experience, about to drown but proclaimed to God and a wave saved him. Then examined lots of religions to find spiritual truth (intellectual), before being bought a Quran and studying it, becoming a Muslim and changing name to Yusuf Islam.

How could St. Paul's conversion be described as a social or moral conversion and not intellectual?

Social - Heard Jesus and blinded by the sudden light; eyes were opened 3 days later by a prophet.

Moral - Changed life away from persecuting Christians after discovering truth of Jesus.

Intellectual - Nothing really relevant to rationality/intellect.

What is a corporate experience?

Several people having same/similar experiences at once. Rare as experiences are normally personal, but there have been reports of group having the same or similar perceptions and messages.

What is a biblical example of a corporate experience?

Acts 2 - "On the Pentecost they were all together in one place.... all of them were filled with the holy spirit and began to speak in tongues as the spirit enabled".

What happened at Medjugorje?

6 young teens regularly saw Mary from 1981. She appeared to them giving secrets and messages of peace. Many now visit on pilgrimage, with 15,000 coming after the 6 saw a vision.

Why are some sceptical of Medjugorje?

Vatican refused to accept even after scientific tests - experiences don't usually last this long. Could just be children pressuring each other. There was also no transiency, passivity or ineffability of this experience - could just be mass hysteria.

Why do many feel Medjugorje was a valid experience?

Many pilgrims say they feel stronger faith. 3/6 still see daily visions. Children can also be argued to be more convincing and less calculating.

What happened at the Toronto Blessing?

1990s in Toronto Airport church - Everyone 'overcome' by holy spirit, falling to the ground, passivity + religious ecstasy.

Why do some feel the Toronto Blessing was valid?

Met William James' criteria for an experience.

Why do many feel the Toronto Blessing was invalid?

Does not correlate to the biblical holy spirit who should be humble and caring, not chaotic. Also could just be mass hysteria or mass conformity ("If everyone else is doing it then I should too"). Also very few felt transformed.

What are some strengths of corporate experiences?

- May life-change.

- More evidential/verifiable.

- More credible.

- More likely to be veridical (objectively real).

- Shows God as non-imaginary.

What are some weaknesses of corporate experiences?

- Contradicts aspects of scripture (e.g. Holy Spirit).

- All could describe the same if it is expected.

- Group pressure / mass hysteria & conformity.

- Hard to verify if genuine.

- Even if experiences similar, everyone's impacts may differ.

- Why does God reveal himself through chaos and experiences while letting us starve and sometimes ignoring prayer?

What did Feuerbach believe about religious experience?

Religion was made by man to overcome physical limitations - They convince themselves that the are controlled by 'God' while it is just a deluded fantasy. God's attributes seem man-made and very human/admirable like omnibenevolence.

What did Freud believe about religious experience?

Naturalistic view - people are deluding themselves. Human psyche works on multiple levels. Ego = obvious conscious, id = unconscious, super ego = conscience/moral oice.

People who experience God are fooling themselves and unable to cope with adulthood. Mentally unhealthy infant neurosis. Experiences involves activating unconscious memory from childhood before ego formed.

What did Winnicott believe about religious experience?

Transitional objects provide security and self-reliance for children - religion is just a more developed version of this developed into an abstract form. No harm unless people expect others to believe it is real, which is a 'hallmark of madness'.

Why would some Christians oppose the psychological view?

The point of experiences is they are unexplainable and divine - God does not need to explain them. Happold would say to use intuition, not reason.

What did Swinburne say about religious experiences as union with a greater power?

They should be taken serious unless disproven - principles of credulity and testimony. Although senses deceive, we should trust it may be God.

What are the two types of public experiences?

Ordinary - Common events seen in a religious way e.g. sunset.

Extraordinary - Event violating natural laws e.g. miracles.

What are the two types of private experiences?

Describable - Effable internal experiences like visions.

Indescribable - Ineffable experiences.

Nonspecific - General experience of God

What is Swinburne's principle of testimony?

We should believe what people say unless you have a reason not to; people will likely be truthful.

Where in the bible is the Holy Spirit's behaviour at the Toronto Blessing disproven?

God is not a god of confusion but a god of peace. (Corinthians 14:33)

Why would some religious people oppose Freud's psychological view on religious experience?

Mystical experiences involve numinous and something infinite, much more than a parent figure or role model. Freud's theory may work against some minor visions, but not greater mystical experiences; God's presence is not the wish-fulfilment of a neurotic that Freud suggests in this case.

How did Freud respond to criticism that his theory did not explain God's greatness and infinity in experience?

Intense mystical experiences are a reliving of childhood before the formation of the 'ego' (self). This explains the feeling of great unity and divinity in some experiences.

Why do many oppose Freud's view from a scientific and religious perspective?

He was not a scientist - he was too non-empirical and had small sample sizes which were not representative and did not have sufficient methods to experiment. Popper said his theories like psychoanalysis were not scientifically grounded.

Who created the God helmet, what does it prove, and why do Christians still believe in God-caused experiences?

Persinger - Helmet stimulates brain through electromagnetism, some participants felt a sense of mystical / greater. Christians could just say that this is how God brings about religious experiences; only proves they are caused in the brain, not who caused them.

Even if God causes religious experiences via the brain, how can Persinger's view of experiences not coming from God still be justified?

Occam's razor - naturalistic explanation assumes less.

Why is Otto's view of religious experiences different to many others?

They are not intimate or feeling a sense of unity with God, rather awe, majesty or dread in his presence.

What are James' 3 principles in his view on religious experience?

Pragmatism - Truth is what has value and works in life.

Empiricism - The result of the experience is empirical/evidential.

Pluralism - Research into different faiths.