Religious Experience
- Created by: Grace Lidgett
- Created on: 04-01-13 15:07
View mindmap
- Religious Experience
- Swinburne categorised the types of r.e
- Public
- ORDINARY = person interprets a natural event with religious significance [beauty of world]
- EXTRAORDINARY = experiences that appear to violate the laws of nature [jesus water to wine - john2]
- Private
- DESCRIBABLE IN ORDINARY LANGUAGE = such as dreams [joseph's]
- NON DESCRIBABLE = refers to direct experiences of God - beyond human powers [teresa]
- NON SPECIFIC = could include looking at the world from a religious perspective
- Public
- Visions
- Experience in which God is 'seen' or 'observed'
- 3 types of visions
- Intellectual = experience rather than something just being observed [teresa]
- Corporeal = knowledge is communicated [mary tells bernadette things]
- Imaginative = visions in dreams [joseph is told it is fine to marry mary]
- In what sense can it be a vision if its not corporeal?
- Voices
- Often associated with the idea of hearing voices [jesus' baptism, God declares jeus is his son]
- How do you know the voice is from God?
- A number of cases of schizophrenics who have killed people claiming that God told them to
- St Teresa suggested a certain criteria =
- 1 = does it fit in with Christian Church teaching?, 2 = Does the experience leave the person feeling at peace with the world?
- If the answers to these are no, then it was a sign that the experience was NOT from God but from the devil
- Whilst St. Teresa did no know of such medical conditions, the distinction she made is useful
- If the answers to these are no, then it was a sign that the experience was NOT from God but from the devil
- 1 = does it fit in with Christian Church teaching?, 2 = Does the experience leave the person feeling at peace with the world?
- Conversion
- Religious experiences that change peoples opinions on belief [cat stevens drowned and turned to God]
- For such change to occur dramatically makes it a piece of powerful evidence [st paul from persecutor to leading preacher]
- Psychological views
- Edwin Starbucks study of conversion prompted him to draw parallels of finding our identity in adolesence
- Most religious conversions occur between 15 - 24
- Edwin Starbucks study of conversion prompted him to draw parallels of finding our identity in adolesence
- Corporate
- Intriguing phenomena that happens simultaneously to a large group of people
- Toronto blessing 1994 most famous. Can be affected by laughter, weeping, rolling around
- Swinburne categorised the types of r.e
Comments
No comments have yet been made