Religious Experience

Question 1

What is William James’ most famous work?

Answer 1

The varieties of Religious Experience

Question 2

How did James approach this study?

Answer 2

From a secular, impartial point of view

Question 3

What were James’ two aims?

Answer 3

To find out if there are any characteristics common to the religious experiences of people from different religions

To analyse whether religious experience can form an objective argument for the existence of God

Question 4

What are the four characteristic common to an RE?

Answer 4

Ineffable
Notice
Transient
Passive

Question 5

Ineffable

Answer 5

Impossible to express in words

Question 6

Noetic

Answer 6

The person receives knowledge of God which is not otherwise available

Question 7

Transient

Answer 7

The experience is not permanent; it usually lasts half an hour or less

Question 8

Passive

Answer 8

The person was not in control of what happened to them. It feels as if it is being controlled from outside- they are the recipient rather than the instigator

Question 9

What is James’ conclusion

Answer 9

The effects of the RE point towards the possibility of a higher power

James is leaving open the possibility of God’s existence - he is offering evidence in support of God

Question 10

Name the 3 Christian mystics

Answer 10

Mother Julian of Norwich
Saint Teresa of Avila
Bernadette of Lourdes

Question 11

What is William James’ view on conversion?

Answer 11

Conversions offer the strongest evidence for God

Question 12

What was the effects of Paul’s Religious Experience?

Answer 12

Paul became a missionary, turning Christianity into a religion that spread throughout the Roma empire

Question 13

Did Saul genuinely experience God?

Answer 13

The fact that Saul changed permanently from staunch Jew to a zealous Christian is evidence to suggest that was a laid RE

Question 14

What is one explanation of Saul’s experience?

Answer 14

An epileptic fit

Question 15

How would James respond to the claim that Saul experienced an epileptic fit?

Answer 15

Even if Paul did have an epileptic episode, this does not mean that it was not also a genuine religious experience

Question 16

Who was Rudolf Otto

Answer 16

A highly influential German Christian theologian and philosopher

Question 17

What did Otto say about religious experience?

Answer 17

Ordinary language cannot do justice to religious experience sine it is non-rational

Question 18

What is a numinous experience?

Answer 18

An indescribable experience which invokes feelings of awe, worship and fascination

Question 19

What does Otto say about God?

Answer 19

God is ‘wholly other’. God can never be fully comprehended because God is unlike anything we encounter in daily life

Question 20

What was Otto’s conclusion

Answer 20

A numinous experience is the strongest reason for concluding that God exists

Question 21

What is an indirect religious experience?

Answer 21

The sense of awe and wonder can happen out of nowhere, in the most ordinary circumstances.

e.g. being in the countryside, witnessing a scene of , the birth of a baby

Question 22

What did Friedrich Schleiermacher say?

Answer 22

Religious experiences are ‘self-authenticating. We do not need an external test to verify that they are genuine

Question 23

What are Swinburne’s two principles?

Answer 23

Principle of testimony
Principle credulity

Question 24

What is the Principle of Testimony?

Answer 24

Our default position is to believe the experiences of others. People usually tell the truth

Question 25

What would James say about personal testimony?

Answer 25

Testimony alone is not enough to prove a religious experience is genuine

Question 26

What would Otto say about the principle of testimony?

Answer 26

Testimony alone is not enough - it’s the feelings the person experiences

Question 27

What were the conclusions of Happold’s study?

Answer 27

God can be known intuitively, (through the soul) #- not the rational mind Mystic/REs are reliable because of their strikingly similar features

Question 28

What is the Principle of credulity?

Answer 28

That we should trust our senses and accept what appears to be the case unless we have evidence to the contrary

Question 29

What is Prior probability?

Answer 29

There is a highly probable chance that God exists unlike the Loch Ness monster or UFO’s. Therefore you should be highly confident that you have experienced God

Question 30

What was Ayer’s response to Swinburne

Answer 30

It is unreasonable to believe in REs because God is not an ordinary object of experience-God cannot be empirically proved

Question 31

What is a corporate religious experience?

Answer 31

When more than one person reports the same, experience at the same time

Question 32

What was Medjugorje?

Answer 32

Six children in Medjugorje, Bosnia reported regular visions of the Virgin Mary and revealing secrets to them

Question 33

Explanations for Medjugorje?

Answer 33

As they were friends, they encouraged each other to believe that they heard things were not true They might of misinterpreted the events

Question 34

What happened at the Toronto Blessing?

Answer 34

Broke into uncontrollable laughter Wept and shrieked Spoke in tongues Fell to the floor in ecstatic trances Made animal noises Worshipers say they were under the influence of the Holy Spirit

Question 35

What would most Christians say about the Toronto blessing?

Answer 35

When the Holy Spirit is genuinely experienced, it leads believers to work for others, be humble and self controlled

Question 36

What is mass hysteria?

Answer 36

A phenomenon where a group of people share similar symptoms, often related to a perceived threat, without an underlying physical cause

Question 37

What are some explanations for the Toronto Blessing?

Answer 37

Mass hysteria Social conformity Group hallucination

Question 38

What theological difficulties are raised about the Toronto blessing?

Answer 38

Why would God reveal himself in such a strange way which do not reveal knowledge about him

Question 39

Similarities between Toronto and Pentecost?

Answer 39

Everyone reported feeling the same sensation- a rushing, mighty wind- and saw tongues of fire appear

Question 40

Why was Pentecost necessary

Answer 40

Speaking in tongues was necessary because Jerusalem was full of people all over the world who spoke different languages

Question 41

What did Ludwig Feuerbach say?

Answer 41

God is an invention

Question 42

What was Feuerbach’s reason for his explanation?

Answer 42

The attributes we ascribe to God are also seen in human nature. People project their own attributes and hold them up to something to worship in God

Question 43

What did Sigmund Freud say?

Answer 43

Religion is an illusion

Question 44

What was Freud’s view on the mind?

Answer 44

The ego: conscious self The id: unconscious self The super-ego: our inner ‘moral voice’ telling us whether something is right or wrong

Question 45

What was Freud’s reason for his views?

Answer 45

Theists cannot cope with adult life so they created a parent figure to protect them

Question 46

How is an RE an hallucination?

Answer 46

A flood of endorphins medication Drugs, alcohol and vitamin deficiencies Fasting

Question 47

What would theists respond to the fact that REs are a hallucination?

Answer 47

Religious experiences happen to ordinary people who are going about their daily lives

Question 48

What is the ‘God Helmet’ experiment?

Answer 48

Psychologist Michael Persinger conducted an experiment in using a helmet in which very weak magnetic signals through the brain

Question 49

What was the conclusion of the ‘God Helmet’ experiment?

Answer 49

Participants reported sensations similar to REs- a presence outside of themselves and a sense of peace

Question 50

What was an explanation of Saul’s experience?

Answer 50

He saw a bright light, becoming unconscious and suffering a temporary loss of sight. These are symptoms of epilepsy