Religious Experience Flashcards
(22 cards)
What does ‘objectivist’ mean?
Open to empirical testing (fact)
What does ‘subjectivist’ mean?
Not open to empirical testing (opinion/depends)
What is a public religious experience?
Visible to anyone (in the open)
What is a private religious experience?
In the brain of the subject (only they can see/feel it)
What does theistic mean?
To do with God(s)
What does monistic mean?
Not to do with God (an inward focused experience)
What does perennialism mean?
Trying to identify what is common in religious experience across different religions.
What is a propositional revelation?
Message received through language (Moses - Yahweh)
What is a non-propositional revelation?
Message received through a feeling/awareness (Buddha - past lives)
What does Swinburne define a religious experience as?
‘an experience which seems… to the subject to be an experience of God… or of some other supernatural thing’
What are the 5 types of religious experiences according to Swinburne?
- Ultimate reality in an ordinary + public object
- Ultimate reality in a public object which breaks the laws of nature
- Ultimate reality through private sensations they can describe
- Ultimate reality through private sensations that are indescribable
- An awareness God is there
What does Walter Stace say about perennialism?
both types of religious experience are found ‘in all cultures, religions, periods, and social conditions’
What does extravertive mean?
looking outwards (looking to God)
What does introspective mean?
looking inwards at yourself
What are the types and purpose of prayer?
Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication (A.C.T.S)
Deepen a connection with God (better understanding/relationship)
Extravertive
What are the types and purpose of meditation?
Focusing the mind, Focusing on body/breath, visulisation
To better yourself, feel calmer, connect with something deeper.
Introspective
What is petitionary prayer?
Prayer where something is asked for
Who coined the term ‘the numinous’?
Rudolph Otto
What is the numinous?
An experience of feeling in the presence of an awesome power that transcends ordinary understanding
What are the requirements of a numinous experience?
non rational, non sensory, object outside itself (theistic/extrovertive)
Does revelation support the veracity of religious experience?
Where did the knowledge come from if not from God?
Gained knowledge proves you have something to show for your religious experience.
What is a mystical experience?
‘the individual closes their senses to the outside world in order to lose themselves in God’ - Hans Kung
