Religious experience

• Mystical Experience

  experiences of God or the supernatural which go beyond the everday experience
• Conversion Experience 


  an experience which produces a radical change in someone's belief system
• Corporate Religious Experience


  religious experiences which happen to a group as a 'body'
• Numinous Experience


  an indescribable experience which invokes feelings of awe and worship
• What is religious experience?

  religious experience is different for different things. Often it is solitary and personal. Can be seen as:

  • visions
  • answered prayers
  • the supernatural
  • rituals
  • hearing God
  • miracles
  • revelation
• The influence of religion experience:

  • found throughout key religions
  • key traditions
  • changes the direction of peoples life
  • e.g. Francis of Assisi
• Friedrich Schleiermacher:

  • German theologian who claimed that the essence of religion was based in personal activity ~> Sense and taste also self authenticating
  • it is a key part of faith
  • emotionally driven
  • not concerned with church teaching -> perhaps allowing religious experience to be too subjective
  • he reduces religion to emotion
• William James:

  • Wrote = The Varieties of Religious Experience. The book was based on his lectures from 1901-02 which were under the title 'A study in human nature'
  • He was a philosopher and psychologist and found that religious experience was worth investigating
  • Didn't link religious experiences just to Christianity
  • Normal human awareness is restricted -> like a faulty lense
  • Doesn't have to be supernatural
  • Awareness exmplifies
• William James cont'd:

  • 1st hand religion ->> religious experience
  • all religions point to the way of God
  • believed to be a pantheist-> which is a beliver in everything being one and identical to the divinity of God.
  • no anthropomorphic God
• James' 4 criteria:

  1. Ineffable = can't adequately be expressed in normal language
  2. Noetic = gives an understanding of important truths which otherwise can't be reached
  3. Transient = the experience is short but the effects might be permanent
  4. Passive = the experience is acted upon the person; they have no control
• James was a pragmatist. This meant he believed the truth was not fixed, and is practically minded.
• James' 5 marks of religious attitude

  1. everything is connected, the spiritual and visible world are connected
  2. realise that a harmonious relationship with the spiritual world is our true purpose
  3. harmony allows spiritual energy to affect to visible world
  4. people have a 'zest' for life
  5. people of an assurance of safety and an importance of loving relationships
• Rudolf Otto:

  • Protestant theologian -->> vast knowledge
  • He argued all religious experiences was numinous in nature
  • The Idea of the Holy (his book) ===> speaks about what Religious Experience made it religious
  • In this book, he describes numinous as being in the presence of an awesome power, a transcendent God ===> awe and wonder
  • Numinous links to the latin word Numen which means to bow the head
  • Bible has many examples of numinous experiences
• Rudolf Otto (cont'):

  • he believes personal encounters are fundamental for religions
  • He described it as mysterium and tremendum
  • 'acted upon by something outside ourselves'
  • like Kant, believed God was to be revealed on an emotional level
• Rudolf Otto's divine 3 qualities:

  • God is a mystery who can not be fully understood
  • God is ultimate importance
  • God cannot be controlled -->> both attractive and dangerous
• Isaiah 6:1 -13 =

  • Overview: Isaiah has a vision of God, he believes he is not worthy, Seraphim touches his lips with a coal, God gives him the message to spread that he is unhappy with the Jews and will wipe them out
  • Key Quotes: "train of his robe filled the temple" "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips" "Here am I. Send me""Holy seed will be the stump in the land"
  • Numinous and mystic experience,
• What is religious conversion?

  Transformation from one way of life to another, if a permanent change of focus is observed it may well be a conversion experience
• How does conversion happen:

  • Gradual Change ==> but one day becoming aware of it
  • Involuntary (being acted upon) ==> subconscious experience (not in control)
  • Choosing to change and follow God ==> desire or need to change
• Often converts have little knowledge of what they have converted to. As knowledge is gained so problems are encountered. James through psychology could describe conversion but unable to account for all the factors. Gradual is more likely to uphold
• Types of Conversion:

  1. Intellectual --> change of thinking and or thought
  2. Moral --> change in behaviour
  3. Social --> change in belonging (friendship groups)
• The Conversion of C.S. Lewis:

  • stark atheist who didn't want to believe in God
  • 'I HAVE JUST PASSED ON FROM BELIEVING IN GOD TO DEFINITELY BELIEVING IN CHRIST, IN CHRISTIANITY'
  • he also looked into other religions such as Hinduism
  • reluctant convert
  • the lion Aslan in his Narnia books, who represents Christ.
• Peter Knowles:

  • While in America, the under 23 star at Wolves opened the door to Jehvah's witnesses
  • They answered questions ->> such as those about his dad and sisters death
  • At 23, he gave up his football career as he believed that it didn't make him content
  • now he is content
• Intellectual conversions -->> Peter Knowles and CS Lewis
• Moral Conversions --> Nicky Cruz
• Nicky Cruz:

  • Son of a witch and satanic priest
  • Tried to kill himself
  • 15, Nicky’s father exiled him to live with an older brother in New York City
  • He left his brother and joined a gang -->> Mau Maus
  • He was notorious and became a high up leader
  • David Wilkerson. Wilkerson disarmed Nicky by showing him something he’d never known before: relentless love. His interest in the young thug was persistent. Nicky beat him up, spat on him and seriously threatened his life, yet the love of God prevailed. It was stronger than any adversary Nicky had ever encountered.
  • "He kissed my heart"
• Social Conversion -->

  • Prof. Edwin D. Starbuck
  • 90% of conversions happen at age 32 or younger
  • 50% 12 or younger
• Social conversion --> Malcolm X
• Malcolm X converted to Islam. This was after he was arrested.
• William James on conversion experiences:

  To say a man is converted means ,in these terms, that religious ideas previously peripheral in his consciousness, now take a central place
• Richard Swinburne:

  • believes that religious experience should be taken seriously as it is evidence for God
  • Principles of credulity and testimony --> credulity is that we should trust a persons senses and testimony is we should trust someone who doesn't give us a reason to doubt them
  • We experience something in ordinary life, we assume this is genuine. Why is this not the same for religious experience
• William Alston:

  • all beliefs are true --> innocent till proven guilty
• J.L. Mackie:

  • differences between religious and other normal experiences
  • religious experiences should not carry the same degree of authority
• Ludwig Feuerbach:

  • naturalistic explanation for religion and religious beliefs
  • "Religious experience is like a dream experience caused by our wishes"
  • wish fulfilment -->> project onto God
  • religious experience from the mind
• Sigmund Freud:

  • religion is a form of neurotic illness that stems from the unconscious mind
  • people have an obsession
  • 3 Parts of the Mind:
• 3 PARTS OF THE MIND FREUD:

  1. the Id: the unconscious self which is not immediately obvious, containing memories and repressed emotions and or desires
  2. The Ego: the layer of the mind which is obvious to us as the conscious self, where we are aware of our opinions and decisions
  3. The Super-Ego: inner 'moral' voice, tells us what is right or wrong. Freud believes this is created as we grow up
• Arguments in favour of religious experience:

  • Swinburne argues that God would seek and interact with his creation, this means it is likely for people to have religious experiences
  • C.S. Lewis was a stark atheist who became a Christian, he had a religious experience, this shows that religious experiences are real as the effect on Lewis would've only happened due to this as he was a reluctant convert
  • People who have them hold them with great conviction
• Arguments against religious experience:

  • Freud argues that religious experience is an illusion based on the Super-Ego (what we have been taught)
  • Feurbach says that religious experience is wishful thinking as we need someone to turn to
  • Toronto Blessing -->> mass hysteria
  • Teenagers -->> sense of belonging
• Theistic mysticism: awareness of God in a living relationship
• Monistic mysticism: awareness of the soul, self or consciousness
• extrovertive mystical experiences: the plurality of objects in the world are transfigured into a single living entity