2.1 the nature of religious experience

Question 1

What is a religious experience?

Answer 1

an encounter or a sense of God or the spiritual world -> they vary considerably as almost every one is different, they are often intangible and ineffable

Question 2

How does William James define a religious experience?

Answer 2

an overwhelming feeling of reverence and of belonging to God + which renewed one’s approach to life -> it involves the whole person (mind, emotions, values and relationships)

Question 3

How does Ninian Smart define religious experiences?

Answer 3

‘some kind of perception of the invisible world, or a perception that some visible person or thing is a manifestation of the invisible world’

Question 4

How did Paul Tillich define religious experiences?

Answer 4

a feeling of ‘ultimate concern’ -> it is an encounter followed by a special understanding of its religious experience; it requires reflection

Question 5

What is a conversion religious experience?

Answer 5

an experience that leads to the adoption of a new religious belief that differs from a previously held belief

Question 6

What are the different types of a conversion RE?

Answer 6

conscious and voluntary experience = gradual conversion
unconscious and involuntary experience = sudden conversion

Question 7

What is prayer?

Answer 7

the experience of communicating with God or a higher power

Question 8

What are the different types of prayer?

Answer 8

blessing, adoration, petition, asking forgiveness, intercession, thanksgiving and praise

Question 9

What was St Teresa of Avila’s view on prayer?

Answer 9

thought the purpose of life is union with God, which is also the purpose of prayer and therefore the purpose of life is union with God through prayer

Question 10

What are the 4 stages of prayer according to St Teresa?

Answer 10

1. Devotion of Heart = mental prayer of devout concentration or contemplation
2. Devotion of Peace = human will is surrendered to God, a feeling of complete peace
3. Devotion of Union = absorption in God, being in the presence of God
4. Devotion of Ecstasy/Spiritual Marriage = the consciousness of being in the body disappears, the climax of mystical experience

Question 11

What is the interior castle?

Answer 11

describes the 7 mansions/dwelling places that each represent a step towards unity with God -> it is a guide for spiritual development.
starts with the least spiritually enlightened and ends with the soul entering into a spiritual marriage with God

Question 12

What is revelation?

Answer 12

the previously unknown made known

Question 13

What are the 2 types of revelation?

Answer 13

1. propositional = the literal word of God - God communicating his message to human beings
2. non-propositional = the scripture becomes the Word of God when preached + when the person hears it in the right state of mind God is able to speak through it

Question 14

What are mystical experiences?

Answer 14

where the subject is transformed and report the loss of individuality

Question 15

What are some common features of a mystical experience?

Answer 15

feeling of bliss, sense of union with the divine, noetic experiences and a sense of joy

Question 16

What is a corporate religious experience?

Answer 16

an experience shared by a group

Question 17

What is an example of a corporate religious experience?

Answer 17

The Toronto Blessing = religious ecstasy, emotional and physical euphoria, crying, uncontrollable laughter and glossaila( angelic language)

Question 18

What are some issues with corporate religious experience?

Answer 18

1. people do not behave in groups the same way they do individually -> wanting to fit in/mass hysteria
2. certain things are infectious e.g. laughter
3. music, lighting, repetition of words and phrases, repeated patterns of behaviour stimulate physical and psychological reactions which can be misinterpreted as an experience of the divine

Question 19

What does Rudolph Otto say about RE?

Answer 19

• He believed that it was important to a person of faith that they had a religious experience in some form of the God that they believed in.
• Talks about the seductive nature of RE = mysterium tremendum et fascinans
• refers to the wholly other (the transcendant nature found in mystical experiences) + describes this wholly other as numinous

Question 20

What is meant by numinous?

Answer 20

beyond the physical, observable universe

Question 21

What does William James argue about RE as an argument for the existence of God?

Answer 21

• RE are personally persuasive rather than evidence to prove God’s existence
• found 4 areas of common ground with the effects of RE

Question 22

What were the 4 areas of common ground in RE, according to James?

Answer 22

1. ineffability = beyond human description
2. noetic = gaining knowledge of the unkown
3. transience = experience is temporary BUT the effects are long lasting
4. passivity = feeling that the free will of a person is being subverted by another force