Religious Experience

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  • Religious Experience
    • William James on the Varieties & types of religious experience.
      • James analysed many examples of religious experience & came to several conclusions (he focused on mystical experiences that led to a conversion). His first finding was that in order for an experience to be labelled religious it must meet the following criteria:
        • T- Transience – the experience is very short but the experiences last for a long time.
        • N- Noetic Quality- the person who has the experience gains some kind of knowledge orinsight that they did not have before.
        • He then had the following conclusions about religious experience:
          • P- PRAGMATISM – That the truth lies in the results. If it has a positive impact and effect then there must be truth to it.
        • I – Ineffability – the person experiencing it cannot describe it in words.
        • P- PRAGMATISM – That the truth lies in the results. If it has a positive impact and effect then there must be truth to it.
        • P- Passive the person experiencing is not in charge.
        • P- PLURALISM – All religious experience (regardless of religion) points towards the same higher order of reality (GOD)
        • He argued that they point “with reasonable probability” towards a God.
      • Strength
        • Weakness
          • Russell: Privacy – we do not know what is actually going on in someone’s head so can’t necessarily speak about it truthfully.
        • James’ is not hammering in the idea of a God- he is open to falsification & the possibility it is not.
          • Swinburne – unless reason to doubt then it must be true!
        • He speaks from the point of view of a doctor, psychologist &philosopher.
    • Swinburne’s categories of religious experience
      • Swinburne categorised religious experiences into types; private and public.
        • Private religious experience: An experience that is internal and cannot necessarily be verified on the outside. E.g. numinous, mystical.
        • Public religious experience:An experience that is witnessed by many and is potentially verifiable by witnesses. E.g. voices, visions,corporate
    • Different Religious Experiences
      • Corporate Religious Experience
        • + multiple people can testify to it so reliable. + This type of experience involves multiple people at one time having the same experience.
        • This type of experience involves multiple people at one time having the same experience.
      • Conversion Experience
        • Normally the person has some kind of experience e.g. corporate or voice, then changes their life.
        • Examples include Nicky Cruz who went from being an NYC gangster to a preacher. Saul --> Paul.  Saul changed dramatically.
        • A conversion experience involves a change in the person's life. This could be from atheist to theist, theist to atheist etc. We generally focus on change into religion.  Normally the person has some kind of experience e.g. corporate or voice, then changes their life.
        • + Often changes are really dramatic and cannot be explained physiologically.
        • - Many people are often very lost already and need some kind of certainty in their life. Maybe predisposed? = Starbuck: It is just you finding your identity! Happens whether religious or not.
          • - What about negative changes? e.g. someone expeirnecing the death of a loved one & turns away from religion. Doesn't this show God does not exist?
      • Mystical Religious Experience
        • This experience involves the person gaining some kind of insight or knowledge. After the event the person generally feels like they have some kind of certainty about something they may have been unsure of.
          • St Teresa of Avila had these sorts of experiences regularly. She saw and felt what hell was like while also receiving information from angels too.
            • + The person is certain about things so perhaps they have experienced something +James focused on these types
              • - People like St Teresa can be explained e.g. sexual frustration      - She also practiced self mortification. Her body was probably in a poor state.
      • Strength
        • Weakness
          • Similarities: People might expect this to happen & so presume (wrongly) that it is caused by a God.
          • People such as Derren Brown (mentalist) haveinitiated religious experiences through his mind– not through a God!
          • Could be explained through medicine, scienceor drugs e.g. Mushrooms, epilepsy, drugs,schizophrenia.
          • Russell: their experience is private. We don’tknow what is going on in someone’s head, sothere is no way of knowing whether or not it trulyis an RE. “There is no difference between a aman who drinks too much and sees things, anda man who fasts and sees God”.
        • Quantity: There have been millions of reports of R.E. throughout history. 31% of British & 35% of Americans have reported feeling close to God through an R.E.
        • Effects: The effects are powerful & positive; they change lives & communities. This is difficult to explain without reference to a God.
        • Similarities: Many accounts are so similar.Surely they would not be that similar if they were made up.
        • James: the validity of the religious experiencelies in the effects.
    • Religious Experience Explanations
      • Physiological explanations
        • It can be explained by the make up of the body or brain.
        • For example, Mohammad* AND Saul was perhaps fasting and had been in the desert for quite a while. It is likely this is a phsyical response.Saul could also have been epileptic.
        • Persinger's helmet: They used helmets that through magnets had an impact on people's brains. The experiences were simialr to that of a reliigious expeirnece.
      • Psychological Explanations
        • :Feuerbach (psycholigist) argued God is MAN written in large letters. We have created God in order to make ourselves feel cared for. When someone experiences God it is really their desire for this figure.
        • Freud would also say it is delusional. It is like a neurosis. It alls tems from our childhood and our desire for an authority figure.
      • Union with a greater power
        • Swinburne also defended religious experience. Imagine someone tells you that they saw your friend at the supermarket last night. He argues that there is no reason why claims about religious experience should be taken any differently to that.
        • He put forward 2 principles to support this:
        • Principle of testimony: Unless we have positive evidence that they are misremembering or are untrustworthy, we should believe their testimony. Swinburne said “other things being equal, we usually think that what others tell us that they perceived, probably happened”.
        • Principle of Credulity: We must accept what appears to be the case, unless we have clear evidence against this. E.g. reason to doubt the person, OR you know the experience was caused by a flashing light & not a God.

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