Numinous experiences

• Rudolph Otto - numinous experience as an apprehension of the wholly other 


  An experience of the numinous refers to a presence and reality that cannot be understood with senses or intellect. It is a sense of the holy
• Numinous experiences is a special term that has come to refer to experiences of awe and wonder that are believed to come from a supernatural being
• Often, numinous experiences put humans into "perspective" meaning that they make humans aware of the grand scheme of God's plan. Such experiences are key to understanding the spirituality of many religions.
• Biblical evidence

  Moses and the burning bush: Exodus 3:3-6 - Moses' encounter with the holy spirit was overwhelming and he even hid his face from the power of God.
• God is ineffable, meaning he cannot describe who his is beyond "I am the am"
• Often the word "holy" is repeated three times in Old Testament passages - Isiah 6:3 "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts"
• Numinous experiences are "sui generis", meaning unique or in a class of their own
• Religious experiences are an experience of God as the wholly other. Showing people that God is different from anything else in the universe and the realms of human experience. These feelings are also human reason, so they cannot be explained rationally, or put into human words.
• Friedrich Schleiermacher 


  Religious experiences are primarily emotional and that everyone has consciousness of the divine. These emotions are deeper than reason and are 'self-authenticating'. This means they do not require testing to be seen as genuine
• Strengths of the Numinous

  Can be understood in anti-realist way, overcoming many of the issues of verifiability - rather than something happening in the world, it refers to a personal experience
• Strengths of the Numinous

  Evidence from the Bible to convince classical theists - e.g. Moses and the burning bush
• Strengths of the Numinous

  Clearly have an impact on people's lives so are personally meaningful
• Weaknesses of the Numinous

  It is not clear if this feeling is caused by God, as this is a subjective and personal experience. We cannot verify the source of it, and this source could easily be environmental rather supernatural/God
• Weaknesses of the Numinous

  Occams Razor: not necessarily the most likely explanation
• Weaknesses of the Numinous

  If God is ineffable, how can knowledge of him be conveyed to us at all?
• Weaknesses of the Numinous

  Why don't all people have these experiences?