Philosophy of Religion

Varieties of Religious Experience: William James

• Ineffable Tennyson
• Transient The Razor's Edge
• Passive St John of the Cross
• Noetic Julian of Norwich

Rudolf Otto

• Numinous Wind in the Willows

(Examples)

Varieties:

Intellectual: Julian of Norwich

Corporeal: St Bernadette

Imaginary; Jacob's Ladder

What is a mystical experience?

A (purportedly) super sense-perceptual experience granting acquaintance of realities or states of affairs that are of a kind not accessible by way of sense perception.

or...An non empirical experience that purportedly grants one acquaintance with transcendent truth

Characteristics: William James and Rudolf Otto

Examples- The buddhist at prayer, St Therese, The Toronto Blessing

Types:

Volitional

Self Surrender

Examples:

St Paul on the Road to Damascus

Contemporary examples eg Muhammad Ali, Cat Stevens (Yusuf)

All of the case studies in Varieties Of Religious Experience

Swinburne: Principle of Credulity

The Principle of Credulity: if it seems to a subject that x is present, then probably x is present. 

It is reasonable to believe that the world is probably as we experience it to be.

Unless we have some specific reason to question a religious experience we ought to accept that it is evidence for the existence of God.