Topic 7 (Year 12): Religious experience

Question 1

Numinous definition.

Answer 1

An indescribable experience which involves feelings of awe, worship, and fascination.

Question 2

Naturalistic exploration definition.

Answer 2

An explanation referring to natural rather than supernatural causes.

Question 3

Mystical experience definition.

Answer 3

Experiences of God or the supernatural which go beyond everyday sense experience.

Question 4

Conversion experience definition.

Answer 4

An experience which produces a radical change in someone’s belief system.

Question 5

Corporate religious experience definition.

Answer 5

Religious experiences which happen to a group of people ‘as a body’.

Question 6

Neurophysiology definition.

Answer 6

An area of science which studies the brain and the nervous system.

Question 7

Principle of credulity definition.

Answer 7

The principle that we should usually believe what our senses tell us we are perceiving.

Question 8

Principle of testimony definition.

Answer 8

The principle that we should usually trust that other people are telling the truth.

Question 9

Pragmatism definition.

Answer 9

The effects on and value of the individual.

Question 10

Empiricism definition.

Answer 10

Using observation and evidence.

Question 11

Pluralism definition.

Answer 11

All religions are valuable and hold truth.

Question 12

Mass hysteria definition.

Answer 12

Collective obsessional behaviour, with psychological and physical symptoms.

Question 13

What makes religious experiences so different?

Answer 13

They are so different from our daily experiences.

Question 14

What are the 3 types of religious experience?

Answer 14

Mystical, conversion, and corporate.

Question 15

Who is the main philosopher for this topic?

Answer 15

William James.

Question 16

Did James say religious experiences are objective or subjective?

Answer 16

Subjective.

Question 17

What does James describe religious experiences as?

Answer 17

Psychological phenomena which have enormous subjective meaning.

Question 18

What does James say there must be beyond our conscious self?

Answer 18

A larger power.

Question 19

What does James question about religious experiences?

Answer 19

Whether there is an objective, diving force behind them.

Question 20

What is James accused of being in his conclusion about religious experiences?

Answer 20

Too vague.

Question 21

What did James define religion as?

Answer 21

A personal experience.

Question 22

What is at the heart of religion for James?

Answer 22

Primary experience of the divine.

Question 23

What are the four common core of James’ mystical experiences?

Answer 23

Passive, ineffable, transcient, and noetic (quality).

Question 24

What do each of these common core mean?

Answer 24

• Passive: people feeling they were not in control of the experience and as if another power was acting on them.
• Ineffable: the experience was difficult to put into words.
• Transcient: the experience lasted a short time but had a much more significant effect on the person, often life-long.
• Noetic (quality): the experience provided insight or knowledge grasped through intuition; this can be called ‘revelation’.

Question 25

What are examples of mystical experiences from the Bible? (2 points)

Answer 25

- Jesus feeding the 5000 with 5 loaves of barley and 2 small fish. - Jesus walking on water.

Question 26

What are two other examples of mystical experiences/people who were mystics? (2 points)

Answer 26

- Teresa of Avila. - John of the Cross.

Question 27

Who created the principle of credulity and the principle of testimony?

Answer 27

Richard Swinburne.

Question 28

Who spoke of 'The Idea of the Holy'?

Answer 28

Rudolph Otto.

Question 29

What does Otto explore in 'The Idea of the Holy'?

Answer 29

The idea of numinous to describe an encounter with God, an encounter with the wholly other.

Question 30

What does the term 'wholly other' signify?

Answer 30

God is not a being among beings but rather of a completely different order from anything in ordinary experience.

Question 31

How does Otto describe the meeting with God? (Latin & English)

Answer 31

Latin: "Mysterium tremendum et fascinas." English: "A mystery tremendous and fascinating."

Question 32

What does Otto say this meeting with God is like? (2 points)

Answer 32

Extremely powerful. An experience which at it's centre has the fascination which comes from loving something.

Question 33

Why can the 'holy' not be described in language taken from our ordinary lives?

Answer 33

Our language is based on the experience of earthly lives, not one of such a supernatural power as God.

Question 34

What are the 2 things in mind for the candidate for conversion?

Answer 34

1 - the present 'wrongness' in their life - their sins, perhaps - that they want to change. 2 - the positive changes they wish to make.

Question 35

Who do conversions affect the most?

Answer 35

People who have no religious faith whatsoever before the experience.

Question 36

What is most significant about gradual conversions?

Answer 36

The process involved.

Question 37

Why does James say conversion experiences have the stongest evidence for?

Answer 37

The divine, due to their observable effects.

Question 38

What are the 2 types of conversion?

Answer 38

Volitional and self-surrender.

Question 39

What do these mean?

Answer 39

- Volitional: gradual change and slow development of new moral and spiritual habits. - Self-surrender: a sudden pivotal or crisis experience (physical and emotional) followed by change; the subject ceases struggling against and surrenders to the now psychological centre.

Question 40

How many 'fruits' of conversion experiences does James describe?

Answer 40

Four.

Question 41

What are these 4 'fruits'?

Answer 41

- A conviction of something beyond the material world. - An immense feeling of elation and freedom. - A feeling of having met a friendly power and responding by self. - A change in the emphasis of life - more spiritual, charitable, morally aware, and with sense of awe and wonder at the universe.

Question 42

Why are gradual conversions always more likely to be permanent than sudden conversions?

Answer 42

A slower procedure is likely to be more thorough.

Question 43

What do near-death experiences feel like? (3 points)

Answer 43

A sense of being 'out of body', feeling a loving presence or a sense of peace, and feeling as if travelling through a tunnel towards a bright light.

Question 44

What is an example of a corporate religious experience from the Bible?

Answer 44

Pentecost - Acts: Chapter 2, in which Jesus' apostles are filled with the Holy Spirit.

Question 45

What are 2 examples of other corporate religious experiences?

Answer 45

- Apparitions of our Lady of Peace in Medjugaje. - Toronto Vineyard Church (Toronto Airport).

Question 46

What can be used as a posteriori proof that God exists within religious experiences?

Answer 46

The thought that one has had an actual encounter with God.

Question 47

Who wrote 'The Essence of Christianity'?

Answer 47

Ludwig Fenerbach.

Question 48

What did Fenerbach argue in 'The Essence of Christianity'?

Answer 48

When people are worshipping God or experiencing him, they are actually worshipping their own nature.

Question 49

What did Fenerbach say people did with positive human traits? (2 points)

Answer 49

They project them onto something external to worship. People project God in their own image to meet their own needs.

Question 50

What is a physiological interpretation of religious experiences?

Answer 50

Some neurophysiological studies of religious experiences suggest that such experiences could have a natural cause rather than a supernatural one.

Question 51

What experiences are studied in neurophysiology and what do they show?

Answer 51

Near-death experiences - which show that these sensations can be created artificially and they could be caused by endorphins, rather than by God.

Question 52

What is Sigmund Freud's view on religion?

Answer 52

His view emphasises the role of psychological needs and desires in shaping religious beliefs and practices.

Question 53

What did Freud see religion as?

Answer 53

A complex phenomenon that serves as a coping mechanism, but also restricts human potential.

Question 54

What is Carl Jung's view on religion?

Answer 54

His view emphasised the importance of personal experience, the role of the unconscious, and the integration of opposites.

Question 55

What did Jung see religion as?

Answer 55

A means to promote perosnal growth, wholeness, and self-awareness.