religious experiences

Question 1

A mystical experience

Answer 1

• When a person feels as if they’ve gained spiritual truth beyond normal understanding.
• Example is St Theresa of Avila having inner visions of Christ.

Question 2

A conversion experience

Answer 2

• When a person changes their beliefs or way of life.
• Example of this is Saul in the New Testament converting to Paul.

Question 3

William James four criteria

Answer 3

1. Passive
2. Ineffable
3. Noetic
4. Transient

Question 4

James is a pluralist

Answer 4

1. James believes that all religions are true.
2. However, cross cultural similarity could explain why religious experiences are similar.

Question 5

James not hallucinations

Answer 5

1. James believes that religious experiences aren’t just hallucinations as hallucinations don’t have life changing experiences.
2. However, it could just the someone’s interpretation of a hallucination. Jean Paul Sartre supports this.

Question 6

Jean Paul Sartre

Answer 6

Religious experiences completely depend on the persons interpretation of it.

Question 7

Freud

Answer 7

Religious experiences are just illusions imagined by the mind to overcome various psychological states.

Question 8

Edwin Starbuck

Answer 8

Studied conversion experiences and noticed a parallel between them and finding our identities between the ages of 15 and 24.

Question 9

Ludwig Feuerbach

Answer 9

The appeal of religion is immorality. Christianity promises life beyond death if someone is willing to buy into this concept and accept Christ. Religion is just where people project their fears.

Question 10

Hume

Answer 10

Humans have a ‘love for the fantastical.’ So, people add details when they pass on the story which leads to a mistrust of whether religious experiences happened, or if it is exaggerated.

Question 11

John Cottingham

Answer 11

If an experience is ‘numinous’ it is easy to presume that it is religious however people have experience of art and nature which could also be called numinous.

Question 12

Robert Kirkwood

Answer 12

Imagine if your friend told you they saw a pig with wings, you wouldn’t believe them as from your experience that is impossible. It is the same with religious experiences.

Question 13

Swinburnes

Answer 13

Principle of credulity means that we should believe something is true unless we can prove that it is false.

Question 14

John Leslie Mackie

Answer 14

if a mystical experience can be explained psychologically then mystical experiences have no authority even for the person who experienced it.

Question 15

Persinger

Answer 15

1. Did an experiment where he exposed individuals to weak magnetic signals, many of the subjects reported feelings that were like religious experiences.
2. However, this could just be one way of God showing himself.

Question 16

Mobbs and Watts

Answer 16

Near death experiences can be explained biologically through observations of humans and the brain.

Question 17

Betrand Russel

Answer 17

‘the fact that a belief has a good moral effect upon a man is no evidence whatsoever in favour of its truth.’

Question 18

William James validity

Answer 18

The validity of someones claim can be tested by the effect on the recipient. He uses the analogy of medicine; we know a medicine is good because of its good effect on the subject.

Question 19

Conversion experience life changing

Answer 19

1. Religious experiences must be genuine as conversion experiences can have life changing effects.
2. However, Russell argues that just because something has a good moral effect, it doesn’t say anything about it’s truth.

Question 20

Swinburne principle of testimony and credulity

Answer 20

We should believe something is true unless we have reason to believe otherwise.