Religious Experiences

• Shleiermacher


  Defines an experience as it offers the sense of the ultimate
• Tillich


  A feeling of ‘ultimate concern’ that demands a decisive decision
• James


  Suggests it gives a person an overwhelming experience of joy and desire to belong to God.
• Coppleston


  ”A loving, but unclear awareness of some object…an experience of something transcending the self.”

  • Having a religious experience means changing
• Theistic mysticism


  A mystic experience which leads to a greater belief in God.
• Monistic Mysticism


  An experience which involves awareness of the soul or consciousness
• James P.I.N.T

  1. Passive- Experience is not in control
  2. Ineffable- Experience is not describable
  3. Noetic- You gain knowledge
  4. Transient- Significance
• P.I.N.T Strengths

  • Brings psychology in, analysing what it means to people and why
  • James’ idea are so insightful they apply more widely
  • Subjective but meaningful
  • James manages to discuss these experiences without getting bogged down in trying to prove or disprove God.
• P.I.N.T Weaknesses

  • To willing to believe ‘there must be something to it’ because it’s widespread and makes people happy
  • If God does not exist, then people experience illusions even if they’re cheerful
  • Happy to ignore God’s existence
  • Better psychological view is from Freud, experiences are rooted in internal turmoil and distress
• The conversion of St Paul

  • His vision is both visual and auditory
  • Saul was convinced it was God
  • He had temporary blindness
  • Experience caused a complete conversion t Christian faith
• Propositional revelation- God directly reveals his truth and nature to people and are not demonstrable using human reason.
• Non-propositional revelation- God does not reveal facts or information during the process of revelation, human beings are free to respond to the revelation or not
• Swinburne


  “An omnipotent and perfectly good creator will seek to interact with its creator.”

  God wants to interact with humans, he’s got a good enough reason to make himself known. These reasons are good, humans know right from wrong
• Swinburne’s two principles

  1. Principle of Credulity- Unless there is evidence , we should believe what people say
  2. Principle of testimony- We cannot constantly doubt people just because we have not experienced it (unless it has special consideration e.g mental health)

  However, there is a reason of doubt as people are not trustworthy as Swinburne believes and everyday imperial experiences and cognitive mystical experiences are not comparable
• Revelation can only happen through propositional revelations as non-propositional revelations do not give us any new knowledge about God that we could not already work out ourselves. It would also mean that God is unjust as some people may never receive this type of revelation so they wouldn't get saved. This means that God would be unfairly punishing them for no fault of their own. Therefore, God would not be all loving and merciful which contradicts the idea of an all powerful god who loves everyone equally.
• Two principle weaknesses

  • Atheists would deny this view, why should they take it on if they don’t believe in God’s existence
  • People aren’t trustworthy as Swinburne believes
  • Cannot compare statements about everyday empirical experiences with statements about cognitive mystical experience
• Otto

  • Came up with the term ’numinous’
  • The numinous experience is a fundamental aspect of religious consciousness, going beyond ordinary experiences and contributing to a deeper understanding of the divine
• Otto Strengths

  • Provides a framework of understanding the divine
  • Resonates with many who find it challenging to articulate their encounters
  • ’Numinous’ is threaded in many religious traditions
• Otto weaknesses

  • ‘Numinous concept‘ elites heavily on personal feeling and interpretation
  • The term itself lacks proper definition
  • ‘mystrerium tremendum et fascinas’ may not universally capture all beliefs or cultures
• Main challenge to Religious Experiences: Sociological

  Marx believes religion Is a form of ‘alienation’ from one’s true self. It distracts people from reality. He saw religion as a form of oppression and social control. It prevents people from making true decisions
• Main challenge to religious experiences: Psychological 


  Freud argues religion is an illusion, he came up with this when he studied a mental hospital, he saw how people coped with their conditions and one common factor was worship. Many suggest this is true as how many people have had religious experiences access cultures and religion
• Freud on religious experiences

  Suggested that religion originated from a childlike desire for a God who resembles a father figure.
• Scientists barely understand the subconscious ad the relationship with mind and body, plus unconscious mind and body.
• Conversion

  • Nicky Cruz- moral conversion
  • St Paul’s- intellectual
  • C.S Lewis- Social conversion
  • Can be permanent or temporary
  • “In consequence of its firmer hold upon religious realities”
• Mysticism

  • Direct personal of the divine
  • Beyond sensory perceptions and intellectual understanding. Leads to a profound connection with the divine
  • Focuses on intimate and direct connection
• Meditation

  • Takes place in multiple religions
  • Important to Monastic tradition
  • Written in the Torah and Hindu Vedas
  • Buddhists believe it clears the mind
  • Christians revived it during the 20th century
  • Hindus believe if you meditate you gain knowledge
• Prayer

  • Can be done in public and privately
  • Indirect experience, God is not directly revealed
  • Form of communication: Thanksgiving, confession, worship
• Physiological cause

  • Religious experiences are due to changes in the body
  • For example, did St Paul have epilepsy?


  Weakness is there is no evidence that everyone has an illness from these experiences
• Numinous

  • ‘Awe’ inspiring experience
  • Describes the transcendent quality that is often associated with the divine
  • May evoke feelings of fear and wonder, beyond human understanding
  • sacred
• Weaknesses of Religious experiences

  • Christian theology says that God’s transcendent (Isaiah x2 and Psalm) How is it possible for humans to experience God?
  • Religious experiences are a product of psychology
  • Manifestation of psychological needs
• Strengths of Religious Experiences

  • Different to other human experiences because we cannot be subjective to objective testing
  • Hume says Religious experiences cancel eachother out when’s theyre from different cultures. However, Christianity has suggested for centuries that the thorium of religious experiences is for the experiencer only
  • Christian theology teaches that God is immanent (Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Ezekial)