A2 Philosophy Of Religion- Religious Experience

Front 1

Explain the psychological challenges to Religious Experience.

Back 1

Freud- Obsessive Neurosis
Religion as an illusion and expression of people's desires, similar to wishful thinking.
Religion originated from a childlike desire for a God who resembles a father like figure.
Little is still known about the relationship between the mind and the body.
A.J.Ayer- belief in God raises interesting questions

Front 2

How does a lack of evidence challenge Religious Experience?

Back 2

-May lead to noticeable changes in a persons life but this only shows that the person has cahnged.
-No insight into the nature and origins of religious experience.
-We cannot experience what the individual does so we are unable to confirm and understand them.

Front 3

What are the conflicting claims associated with Religious Experience?

Back 3

-Within different religions around the world believers claim to experience God or the divine.
-While there are similarities between the effects of these experiences there are many differences in the description of these experiences.
E.g. Hindus see Lakshmi, Christians see Jesus.

Front 4

How do religious experiences demonstrate the existence of God?

Back 4

-Those who have religious experiences are no more likely to be deluded/ignorant than those who dont.
-Large number of people have religious experiences so can they all be wrong?
-William Alston: for believers, its rational to believe people have religious experience.
-Swinburne: a religious experience, accepted for what it is unless, reason to suggest otherwise.

Front 5

How do religious experiences demonstrate that God does not exist?

Back 5

The authority of a religious experience does not extend beyond the person who experiences it-problem because a philosophical demonstration of God's existence based on religious experience is not possible.
Origins of religious experience could be psychological or sociological-religious experience greatly significant and meaningful to the person. But does not support an argument for the existence of God.
Although people build institutions around religious experiences, convert their lives and believe they have encountered God, James argues that something is not necessarily true no matter how sincerely people believe it.
Religious experiences provide no evidence for the existence of God but it is reasonable to believe that there is a personal God.

Front 6

How can you argue that religious experiences are veridical?

Back 6

Can we actually demonstrate that the religious experiences of people are what they seem to be? e.g. are people really experiencing God or are they just products of the mind?

Front 7

What is Richard Swinburne's argument on Religious Experience?

Back 7

Principle of Credulity:
- We have good reason to believe what a person tells us is true. We have no reson to disbelieve their claim
- We have good reason to disbelieve if a person is under the influence of drugs or scientific explanation.
Prinicple of Testimony:
- You may want to invesitgate but still have no reason to reject what they have told you.
-They are a renowned joker, special consideration
-Not everyone has a religious experience, but no reason to reject the possibility of them.
- Religious people understand more as they have a greater chance in recognising a religious experience.

Front 8

Explain the sociological response to Religious Experience.

Back 8

Religious Experience is influenced by the culture you live in and is from the desperation of the person in a situation.
- Can be seen as a form of oppression and a way to control people in society.
-Marx argues that churches are a form of oppression
-Christian teaching of heaven and hell is like opium= a form of comfort.
Religion as a form of alienation- distraction from reality- 'opium of the people'.

Front 9

What is the difference between direct and indirect religious experiences?

Back 9

Direct: refers to cases where a person encounters God in a direct way e.g. Paul on the road to Damascus met the risen Jesus who communicated with him (Acts 9).
Indirect: refers to experiences in which the mind of an individual focuses on God e.g. feeling awe by the beauty of nature which leads to an appreciation of God as the Creator.

Front 10

What does Rudolph Otto say about direct experiences?

Back 10

In 'Otto, The Idea of the Holy' he pointed out that a central element of direct experiences of God was an 'apprehension of the wholly other', which Otto called the 'numinous'.
By 'numinous' Otto meant the world that is beyond the physical observable universe.

Front 11

In Richard Swinburne's 'The Existence of God' what are the 5 different religious experiences suggested?

Back 11

PUBLIC-
1. Ordinary experiences- a natural event with religious significance.
2. Extraordinary experiences- they appear to violate normal understandings of nature.
PRIVATE-
3. Describable in ordinary language- dreams
4. Non-describable experiences- God is revealed
5. Non-specific experiences- a religious perspective

Front 12

What are vision experiences?

Back 12

God is 'seen' or 'observed'- information may be revealed, so dreams are described by theologians as noetic or revelatory.
An intellectual vision- something that is experienced rather than just seen. e.g. Teresa of Avila: "saw Christ as my side... I was conscious of Him" - aware of his presence.
A corporeal vision- knowledge is communicated. e.g. St Bernadette of Lourdes saw the virgin Mary.
An imaginative vision- visions that occur in dreams. e.g. Matthew 1 Joseph has a dream telling him not to be afraid of marrying Mary although she is pregnant.

Front 13

What are voice experiences?

Back 13

The voice is usually linked to God and mystical experiences- communicates a message. e.g. in the calling of Samuel God's voice calls Samuel to be a prophet.
The disembodied voice- not from the person speaking, shows the presence of God.
Noetic- communicates a revelation from God.
Authoritative- passes on God's authority.

Front 14

What are the problems with voice experiences?

Back 14

How do you know what the voice is from God?
Manic schizophrenics have killed people through claims of God's voice telling them to do so.
Teresa of Avila considered this and suggested:
1) Does the religious experience fit in with Christian Church teaching or is it against it?
2) Does the experience leave the person feeling at peace with the world and God, rather than distressed?
She suggested that if the experience did not have these effects it was a sign that it was not from God.

Front 15

What does William James argue about religious experience?

Back 15

In 'The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature' James is interested in RE because he assumed that it was the source of religious institutions such as churches. These were secondary to each individuals religious experiences.
Religious experiences were events which were 'solitary' to experience the divine or God.
The religious tradition the person belongs to is relatively unimportant.

Front 16

What does William James say about conversion experiences?

Back 16

Religious experiences have great authority for the person who has them- marked effect on their life.
Conversion experiences are characterised by religious beliefs becoming central to a person's life.
e.g. Paul on the road to Damascus-changes from being a persecutor of Christians to being one of the most important Christians and missionaries.

Front 17

What are the four characteristics that are prominent in mystical religious experiences of God, according to William James?

Back 17

1) Ineffable- direct experience of God goes beyond human powers of description.
2) Noetic- mystics receive knowledge of god that is not otherwise available. Direct revelations from God.
3) Transient- Not permanent- often involve a different perception of time and duration.
4) Passive- the experiences were not under the control of the mystic; it happens from God- no will.

Front 18

According to William James, what are the possible signs that a religious experience is from God?

Back 18

A 'good disposition' that is the result of the experience which the sign leaves behind.
God would encourage a good result.

Front 19

What does William James say about the reality of religious experiences?

Back 19

He did not deny the reality of the mystical experience and suggested that such experiences were ways in which individuals could gain knowledge of God, not otherwise possible.
The mystical experience is not a source of authority over other people- but the influence of saints. Saints do not necessarily seek influence or authority over other people for themselves.
He examined the parallels and similarities between religious experiences and other types such as dreams and hallucinations- subconscious.

Front 20

What does William James conclude about religious experiences?

Back 20

On their own they do not demonstrate God's existence, although they can suggest the existence of 'something larger'.
He suggested that the experiences were 'psychological phenomena' and could be explained as part of a person's psychological make-up- though he does not use this against belief in God, he is saying that it is natural to a person just like self-awareness or thinking.

Front 21

What are the responses to William James' ideas?

Back 21

J.L. Mackie- mystical experiences cannot have authority even over the person who has the experience, can be explained psychologically. People who do believe they are authoritative are deemed to be 'insufficiently critical'.
-Suggestions that religious experiences are similar to hallucinations caused by drugs such as LSD.
-Many sociologists and psychologists claim that religious experiences only happen to people who are already members of a religious tradition- not always.

Front 22

What does William Alston say about the credibility of religious experiences?

Back 22

Considered whether it was logical to talk about a person experiencing God and gaining knowledge from the experience. He explored the fact that many people believe that these experiences were 'What they seem to be'.
In normal life you are not doubted because other people have had similar experiences using their senses. Alston suggests if it is right to immediately doubt their observation when we would not doubt it in other situations. If our sense perceptions are generally reliable, why should we not believe what our senses tell us in a religious experience?
He said to explain them naturalistically would be a 'double standard' as religious experiences are also sense perceptions. There is no reason to reject an unusual explanation of something.