Religious experiences

Question 1

what is William James book?

Answer 1

‘The varieties of religious experiences’

Question 2

name all scholars in this topic?
9 of them!

Answer 2

1. William James
2. Rudolf Otto
3. Happold
4. Schleiermacher
5. Swinburne
6. Feuerbach
7. Freud
8. Winnicott
9. Persinger

Question 3

finish the quote by William James “they are as convincing….”

Answer 3

“to those who have them as any sensible experience can be.”

Question 4

what are the four qualities William James believed a religious experience should have, define them too

Answer 4

1. ineffable = impossible to express through everyday normal language
2. noetic quality = important truths revealed
3. transcience = last a few hours but effects last a lifetime
4. passivity = experience being controlled from outside the individual, have no control

Question 5

what is schleirermachers book?

Answer 5

‘On religion: speeches to its cultured despisers’

Question 6

what is Happolds book?

Answer 6

‘Mysticism, a study and anthology’

Question 7

what is Ottos book?

Answer 7

‘the idea of the Holy’

Question 8

what is Swinburne’s book?

Answer 8

‘is there a God?’

Question 9

what is Feuerbachs book?

Answer 9

‘the essence of christianity’

Question 10

who stated ‘hallmarks and madness’ and what did it mean?

Answer 10

winnicott
when people cannot make a distinction between reality and their illusions

Question 11

what did James argue was the real test to determine whether a religious experience was valid?

Answer 11

a long term change / conversion to the individual

Question 12

Otto stated a religious experience brings a feeling of awe, what did he call this?

Answer 12

numinous experience
‘ mysterium tremendum et fascinans’

Question 13

Otto argued God can be identified through 3 qualities , what are these qualities?

Answer 13

1. Mystery - God’s work seen through experience but this is unexplainable - ineffable
2. God ultimate being of importance
3. God has attractive and dangerous qualities

Question 14

what word used in health and social (yr 12 the good lessons) did Otto use to describe a religious experience?

Answer 14

SCHEMA
a cluster of words tried to fulfil telos successfully is what feels like a religious experience

Question 15

what story did Otto use to demonstrate God having dangerous and attractive qualities?

Answer 15

Narnia
children lovee the lion but the lion can never be fully understood
lion is not tame and can be stronger than depicted
similar to God can never be fully understood and stronger than can be thought

Question 16

define a corporate religious experience?

Answer 16

when several people have similar experiences at the same time and receive the same message

Question 17

what is a biblical example of a corporate religious experience?

Answer 17

pentecost at the beginning of Acts
everyone experienced the same sensation of rushing win and could speak tongues of fire

Question 18

what are two examples in modern society of corporate experiences?

Answer 18

Toronto blessings 1990
Group of people worshipping who become overcome with the Holy Spirit , become drunk , weep , laugh (mass hysteria) , fall to the ground.

Bosnia 6 young teenagers
children has regular visions of Mary who stated they needed more prayer

Question 19

why is the Toronto blessings flawed?

Answer 19

people saw this as a mass hysteria and reject its genuineness because it became popular for people to visit so may have followed into faking their behaviour so not a strong example

Question 20

why could the corporate experience of the 6 children in Bosnia be seemed as flawed?

Answer 20

Catholic Church rejected it’s genuiness
children can be very creative and in peer pressure

Question 21

what’s an example of a conversion experience?

Answer 21

Saul to Paul in acts
St Paul converted after being blinded and then God sent someone to heal him
After seeing God’s Glory of healing him from blindness Saul converted to Paul , he was affected

Question 22

define a conversion experiences

Answer 22

experience where someone abandons their old way of life and belief system and adopts a new one

Question 23

whats an example of a mystical experience?

Answer 23

Julian of Norwich
Had a numinous realisation of Gods true sacrifice after receiving 16 vissions of Jesus
She saw Jesus whilst on her deathbed
Taught her God is love

Question 24

what did Happold define mysticism as?

Answer 24

a universal element found across different religious traditions

Question 25

for mysticism to happen , what part of the brain did Happold argue we need to use?

Answer 25

use non-rational , intuitional side of human understanding

Question 26

when looking at different cultures within mysticism , what did Happold conclude?

Answer 26

there was similarities to be found, which included: 1. physical, material world only part of reality and comes from 'divine reality' 2. human nature is people can know the 'divine ground' by their intuition 3. there are two distinct natures, the ego and the eternal self = 'spark of divinity within him' 4. our purpose is to discover our eternal self and unit with 'divine ground'

Question 27

what did Schleirermacher argue was the essence of religion?

Answer 27

personal experience

Question 28

finish the quote by schleirermacher which talked about the feeling of a religious experience "a sense....."

Answer 28

"a sense and taste for the infinite" - feeling and experience is important

Question 29

True or False schleirermacher argued religious experience to be valid need to be tested.

Answer 29

False #April fools requires no test to see if its genuine rather is 'self authenticating'

Question 30

who argued religious experiences are 'self authenticating'?

Answer 30

schleirermacher

Question 31

why did schlierermacher argue using doctrines and committing to ethical principles wasn't enough for religion? (hint: love)

Answer 31

religious experiences are at the heart of faith

Question 32

True or False Swinburne argued religious experiences are valid evidence for the existence of God?

Answer 32

TRUEEE

Question 33

what analogy did Swinburne use to describe his argument?

Answer 33

analogy of someone at the door would assume hear a knock someone is at the door , you wouldn't doubt it therefore, if someone believers they can hear God then they probably can , you should't doubt them unless you have any reason not too

Question 34

what principle did Swinburne put forward for his argument?

Answer 34

'principle of credulity and testimony' meaning argued someone who had a religious experience best position to know what had happened , through probability experience can be trusted not something someone would just make up

Question 35

who are the three psychological scholars?

Answer 35

Feuerbach Freud Winnicott

Question 36

where did Feuerbach argue religious experiences come from?

Answer 36

the mind rather than from God

Question 37

why did Feuerbach argue humanity have religious experiences?

Answer 37

because have a creative nature and created a being to worship

Question 38

Feuerbach argued humanity have created a God from their creativity, why?

Answer 38

to meet their own needs because they wanted to feel cared for so invented a God who praises the good and punishes the wicked so we have a purpose to work towards in life

Question 39

what did freud argue when people say they feel they are in the presence of God?

Answer 39

they are deluding themselves argued if you feel you have had an encounter with God then deluding yourself and are fooling yourself

Question 40

for Freud , why did he believe people created a God figure?

Answer 40

to cope with human life so created God as a parent figure to better their mental health

Question 41

For winnicott why did he argue people experiences? (his whole argument)

Answer 41

studies childhood children and mothers make a bond to be mentally healthy and children form attachments children use toys to to help and comfort them with separation anxiety ie: make a teddy talk which is an illusion this illusion continues into adult life so people feel they have comfort and some sense in the world 'hallmarks and madness' -> where people cannot make a distinction between reality and their illusions

Question 42

who developed the helmet experiment?

Answer 42

per singer

Question 43

what was the helmet example?

Answer 43

volunteers wore a helmet to see signals in the brain to see if it was proportional to feelings of religious

Question 44

why was per singers helmet experiment flawed?

Answer 44

other tried to replicate the experiment and did no find the same data as a result

Question 45

when someone has a numinous experience, what do they gain?

Answer 45

new deeper understanding of reality

Question 46

what quote did Otto use to describe a numinous experience?

Answer 46

"at once ineffably transcendent"

Question 47

whats an example of a numinous experience thats not in the Bible? *think of one of your friends name

Answer 47

"the wind of the willows" - rat mouse looking for baby - found baby in care of God's plan - overcome with a feeling of awe