Religious Experience Flashcards
“Religious experience justifies belief in God - how far do you agree” essay
A: they are not enough to prove God’s existence as religious experience is a form of neurosis. Freud - unconscious mind stores information about events. When they surface can be in the form of hysterical behaviour - illusions. Bernadette
CA: Swinburne - principle of credulity, people usually tell the truth, we should accept the statement unless there are positive grounds to prove them wrong.
E: A.J Ayer argued that recipients don’t give factual accounts if they are recounting from a dysfunctional mind. So we cannot prove R.E from testimony
A: Mostly individuals tend to have religious experience so they are subjective. No empirical proof for others to judge whether it is true.
CA:Healing services may demonstrate a corporate experience. More people experience this so it would be more difficult to doubt. More testimony can prove God exists and increases the validity
E: some healing services have been found to mental manipulation. Mass hysteria. Therefore not a problem as most corporate experiences have been shown to be false
“Mystical experiences are of God” essay
A: James said religious experience have the 4 things in common. However this can be explain psychologically. Freud - neurosis, father figure = God, illusions. Feuerbach would also agree
CA: Swinburne - principle of testimony We should believe people. Alston would agree and argue our senses are generally reliable so why would they not be in regard to R.E
E: O’Hear - we should apply other checks against our senses. Check against other senses, check across time, check with others. Mystical experiences cannot go through all these. So unscientific
A: James pragmatism - would argue that mystical experiences lead to conversions and have long lasting effects. S.Hadley - an addict has a religious experience… Starbucks would argue these psychological effects are a normal adolescent phenomenon. Being depressed, struggling to find personal identity
CA: James observed that these conversions resulted in ‘fruits’. How god is presented in church teachings
E:These impacts are not unique to
Religious experience, cant jump to the conclusion. Movies can also have the same effect.
“Critically asses William James’ view on religious experience” essay
A: William James - mystical experiences: passive, infallible, noetic, transient. Actually neurosis. Suppression of childhood trauma. Humanity has created a God which can be seen as a father figure. Feuerbach agreed - people hold memories in the subconscious- results in neurosis. explains why alot of mystical experiences cannot be explained.
CA: Swinburne, principle of credulity. Should believe someone unless good reason to not believe. Would dismiss a lot of religious experiences - of someone was a serial liar - wrong
E: We don’t have a way of proving the validity of the religious experience. A.J Ayer, we cannot trust a faulty mind. R.E cannot explain coming from a faulty mind clearly.
A: James wrong - religious experiences have profound effects - depressed, not depressed, conversion etc. Starbuck - not prove religious experiences as is common for adolescents to go a switch in their lives.
CA: such profound changes must be from God. E.g. drugs and suddenly no drugs. St. Paul conversion. St. Theresa of Avila. Aligns with God in the bible. Many people have been more selfless aligns with teachings in the bible. shows it was God.
E: Weak argument as the same effects can happen through things other than religious experience such as listening to music. Not unique
Religious language scholars & arguments
William James: Wrote ‘the varieties of religious experience’. All mystical experiences have a common core: 1. Passive, 2. Ineffable, 3. Notice, 4. Transient. Says that often ‘fruits’ came from he experiences.
Bertrand Russel: “There is no difference between a man who eats nothing and sees God and a man who drinks too much and sees snakes” - experiences are not genuine
Swinburne: principle of credulity and testimony: Unless evidence to the contrary should believe the person who experienced it.
Jung: associated St Paul’s conversion as a mental breakdown triggered by guilt
Michael Persinger: St. Paul’s conversion was temporal lobe epilepsy. Exhibited symptoms of epilepsy throughout the bible. Used the God helmet experiment to stimulate the frontal lobes
St. Paul always had ‘a thorn on his side’.Perhaps had an illness
Feuerbach: God was a psychological construct formed from human desires
Freud: religion is a neurosis. Id and superego. Wishful thinking. God is a father figure.
Starbuck: described two types of conversion 1. Volitional 2. Self surrender. He argues that religious conversion experiences are normal for adolescents. PINT symptoms similar to these adolescent feelings.
Pankhe’s Good Friday experiment: a group was given entheogens to simulate religious experiences.
Caroline Franks Davis: uses a cumulative argument, there could be a God
William Alston: your senses are generally reliable, why would they not be for religious experience
Hume: inconsistent that Catholics experience Mary, Hindus experience Shiva, e.g.
St. Teresa of Avila: had an experience. Some argue it was due to sexual frustration.
S.Hadley: was an alcoholic, had an experience, didn’t want to touch alcohol again.
The Toronto Blessings: Rolled around on the floor.
C.S Lewis: had a gradual conversion
