Religious experience

• What is a religious experience?

  When someone feels a connection with, or in the presence of the divine
• What are the two types of religious experience?

  Direct experience - person feels in contact with God

  Indirect experience - person is aware of God
• Who suggests there are 7 types of religious experience?

  Caroline Frank Davis
• What are the 7 types of religious experience, according to Caroline Frank Davis?

  • Awareness
  • Quasi sensory
  • Numinous
  • Regenerative
  • Interpretive
  • Mystical
  • Revelatory
• What does numinous mean?

  Experiencing the holiness of God
• What is a revelatory experience?

  Revelation is divine self-disclosure
• What are the two types of revelatory experience?

  • Propositional revelation
  • Non-propositional revelation
• What is propositional revelation?

  God communicates his divine message to humans
• What is non-propositional revelation?

  A moment of realisation of divine truth comes through religious experience
• What is a mystical experience?


  A direct intuition or experience of God
• What are the 3 aspects of mysticism?

  • God mysticism
  • Nature mysticism
  • Soul mysticism
• What is God mysticism?


  The idea that humans want to return to God
• What is nature mysticism?


  The belief that God is imminent
• What is soul mysticism?


  The idea of finding the soul
• What happened to Theresa of Avila?


  An angel pierced her heart, transferring God’s love to her
• What is a conversion experience?

  A direct experience that happens to someone who is dissatisfied with their current belief system and then they sense God
• What happened to Saul on the road to Damascus?

  Had a conversion experience after he saw a bright light that blinded him, and “something like scales fell from his eyes”. He saw Jesus and then was baptised and changed his name to Paul
• What is William James’ criteria for religious experience?


  Passive

  Ineffible

  Noetic

  Transient
• What does passive mean?


  Something is acting on the person
• What does ineffible mean?

  Indescribable
• What does noetic mean?

  A deep knowledge which can’t be reached by reason
• What does transient mean?

  Temporary, with effects lasting a lifetime
• What happened at the Toronto blessing?

  At Toronto airport passengers felt filled with the holy spirit and had an increased awareness of Gods love
• What happened to people at the Toronto blessing?

  Religious ecstasy, uncontrollable laughter, euphoria, crying
• What is a counter argument to the Toronto blessing?

  Mass hysteria
• What is the cumulative argument?

  Lots of people have had religious experiences, they can’t all be making it up so God must create some of them
• What is this historical argument?

  Many people in history have had religious experiences, which have been so great they must be true
• What did Swinburne come up with?

  • Principle of Testimony
  • Principle of Credulity
• What does the principle of testimony say?


  People usually tell the truth so we should trust them unless given a reason not to do so
• What does the principle of credulity say?


  Those experiencing God should believe what their senses are telling them

  If it seems x is present it probably is

  If there is no evidence of mental illness we have no reason to distrust people
• What does Freud say about religion?


  Wishful thinking, a form of neurotic illness
• What does Carl Jung say about religious experience?


  We have an innate tendency to create religious images
• What is the physiological explanation for religious experience?

  Some religious experiences have similar symptoms to mental illness and seizures
• What does Dawkins say about religious experience?

  People are ignorant of the straightforward psychological or physical explanations for what they see

  Our brain can trick us (eg optical illusions), so people who see religious experiences are just seeing optical illusions, and they are gullible
• What does Dawkins say about the Yorkshire Ripper?


  The Yorkshire Ripper “heard Jesus” telling him to murder, and Dawkins argues that Christians would not say this is true. Therefore they are choosing what constitutes as a valid religious experience - shouldn’t all experiences be valid if they exist?
• What is a quote from Dawkins about religious experience?

  “When a few people hear voices or see visions, they are called insane. If a large group of people hear voices or see visions, they are called religious.”