religious experience L2

influence of religious experiences:

• central to many religious traditions and is evident in many sacred texts

• eg Muhammad’s personal religious experience in receiving guidance about prayer has shaped the pillar of salat

• eg st francis of assisi’s religious experience led to the formation of the Franciscan order of monks

frederick schleiermacher:

• german reformed theologian, philosopher n biblical scholar

• largely influence by several rationalist philosophers

• Protestant, but rejected orthodox Christian doctrine eg the Doctrine of the Trinity, the Apostle’s Creed

• father of liberal theology > not reliant on external authority

• lived in Enlightenment period n disagreed with contemp. view of his day, that reason was of prime importance

• argued that

  • religion was rooted in human feelings

  • core of religion was “a sense and taste for the infinite in the finite”

  • religious people are those who are aware of and try to cultivate the sense of the divine

  • religious experiences therefore could take a variety of forms in different cultures: the different religions are an expression of this

  • feeling and personal experience were important

  • religious experience is @core of all religion n is self-authenticating —> requires no other testing to see if it' is genuine

• objections:

  • criticised for amount of emphasis on subjectivity, reducing religion to the emotional n removing the possibility that religion was based on fact

  • established religion: danger that one’s experience could be formulated as a doctrine that could result in heretical teachings

  • heresy: belief/opinion contrary to doctrine

  • there needed to be guiding principles to keep people in check

  • with his definition, a religious experience could be one that is manufactured by drugs n therefore not authentic

william james:

• american philosopher, psychologist n first educator to offer psych course in US

• 4 main qualities of religious experience: PINT

  • passivity

    • each religious experience happens to the recipient

    • they are recipients rather than instigators

  • ineffability

    • n

  • noetic quality

    • during the experience, the supernatural being that appears imparts knowledge to recipient

    • the knowledge consists of important truths that could not have been obtained through reason alone

  • transience

    • the experience may be short but effects are long-lasting

    • recipient forced to change their life for God, affecting recipient’s attitude n lifestyle

• controversy:

  • acknowledged that alcohol n drugs were mediums that could be utilised to reach states of relaxed openness

  • scientists found his interest in exotic mental phenomena misguided + reckless

  • resentment towards comparison of intoxication to religious inspiration