Religious experience

Question 1

What is a religious experience?

Answer 1

A religious experience is a subjective encounter with the divine or a transcendent reality.

Question 2

What are the types of Religious experience according to Swinburne?

Answer 2

Public - can be an individual seeing God, God’s actions in a public scene
Private - experiences which an individual can describe in normal language

Question 3

What are the types of Religious experience according to Evans?

Answer 3

Monist - an individual becomes aware of the one-ness of all things
Numinous - a sense of complete separateness of G-d, where they become aware of his power and glory

Question 4

What are the types of Religious experience according to Davies?

Answer 4

• Interpretative Experience: where an experience is attributed to the divine
• Quasi-sensory Experience: where an experience impacts upon the senses
• Revelatory: where an experience provides a moment of unique insight or revelation
• Regenerative: where an experience renews or restores an already existing faith
• Mystical: where the individual perceives themselves to be apprehending the ultimate reality

Question 5

What does PINT stand for?

Answer 5

Passive = the experient does not seek the experience
Ineffable = the experience is unexplainable
Noetic = the experience gives the experient special knowledge
Transient = the experience does not last that long

Question 6

Essay plan

Answer 6

Paragraph 1:
- Point = James states “God is real as God has real effects” e.g. Asbury revival
- Challange = Vardy states all relgions have different experiences (cancels out)
- Counter = Hick argues different religions experience God differently due to cultural differences
Paragraph 2:
- Point = Principle of testimony (Swinburne) - people are more likely to trust their own kind
- Challange = Freud says religious experiences are just illusions that fulfull our desires
- Counter = Too many religious expereinces across the world to claim its just an illusion
Paragraph 3:
- Point = Principle of crudelity (Swinburne) - people should trust their senses
- Challenge = God helmet (Persinger) - if we can create a religious experience, we shouldnt trust our senses
- Counter = Persinger’s experiments had low validity (demand characteristics)