Flashcards
Religious Experience Cards (AS)
Cards in this deck (32)
- 1NuminousRelating to the power/presence of a deity.
- 2EmpiricalEmpirical religious experiences are those which are experienced by the senses (eg. taste, hearing... etc.)
- 3Corporeal VisionsCorporeal visions are a form of empirical relgious experience. It comes through the physical sense of sight. -The experiencer sees a supernatural version of an pbject that is really present.
- 4SupernaturalBeyond the normal forces of nature.
- 5Joan of ArcCorporeal vision.
Claimed to have experienced corporeal visions. She claimed her visions were as real to her as seeing an actual person with her 'bodily eyes' -the visions were often accompained by heavenly light. - 6Bernadette SoubirousCorporeal Vision.
Experienced a vision of a 'small young lady' -claimed to have experienced 18 visions- lady identified herself as the "immaculate conception" -visions accompained by the appearance of spring water -been the source of 69 documented miracles with no scientific explanation. - 7Imaginative VisionsA vision seen in the mind, usually through a dream experience. The experiencer has no power to direct the experience -a sign that it comes from God. Given to the experiencer without the normal processes of sight.
- 8Pharaoh's DreamImaginative vision.
two powerful dreams he cannot interpret- Joseph warns Pharaoh that vision is a warning from God- allowed him to store surplus grain. - 9Joseph's DreamImaginative vision.
Angel appears to Joseph and tells him to take Jesus to Egypt. Taken out of harm's way by God. - 10Intellectual VisionsHas no image. Experiencers claim to 'see' things as they really are. Mystical visions and those who have them claim that they cannot be interpreted with ordinary language.
- 11Theresa of AvilaGave graphic accounts of intellectual visions.
"I saw nothing with the eyes of the body... nothing with the eyes of the soul". Explains that light of an intellectual vision is an illumination of the understanding of the soul. Understood to be representative of an intimate union with God. - 12Numinous Experiences: Otto; an apprehension of the wholly other.Just a title card ;)
- 13The idea of the HolyReligious experiences are encounters with the Holy. Holy is the key word of all religions. Otto focuses on the 'holy' in the sense of God being transcendent and numinous.
- 14The numinousAn adjective meaning realting to the power/presence of a deity. According to Otto, the numinous is common to all religious experience, regardless of nation or culture.
- 15C.S. LewisOne of the best known explanations of the numinous. Became a theist during a religious experience- converted to christianity and produced christian books.
- 16Feelings of Numinous- Sui Generis(Sui Generis= 'of their own kind'). Religious experience itself is of God as the wholly other, and is beyond the natural world. The wholly other cannot be grasped or percieved.
Numinous feelings are not just intense versions of normal feelings. They are sui generis- meaning they are unique. They are a special faculty in our minds -a faculty that recognises the wholly and responds to it. - 17Numinous Feelings are Non-RationalWe cannot reason our way to understanding numinous feelings because such feelings are non-rational. They are beyond the rational and cannot really be explained. We are left with 'mysterium tremendum et fascinas' -a tremendous and fascinating mystery.
- 18Mysterium Tremendum Et FascianasThe tremendous power can chill and numb. It inspires feelings of awe, majesty and dread. The mystery is so fascinating, and the experiencer is so caught up in it that it evokes both rapture and love.
- 19William James; Mystical ExperiencesFor William James, the object of mystical experiences is a union with God. For James, religious experiences are primary and organised religion is secondary. God exists factually but is probabaly finite, and may even exist as a collection of God-like selves.
- 20Experiences Teaches Us...(From William James).
1) That this world draws its chief significance from a more spiritual universe (the realm of God).
2) The true end of humanity is union with that higher realm.
3) Prayer/spiritual communion with that higher realm has positive effects in this life such as peace and loving affection. - 21Mystical States of ConsciousnessFour criteria that form a core to mystical experiences. They are;
-Ineffable
-Neotic
-Transient
-Passive
God's existence is the guarantee that there is an ideal order that will be permanently preserved. - 22Walter StaceDefines mysticism as non-sensuos and non-intellectual union with the divine. Non-sensuos because the sense no longer work at this level and non-intellectual because the normal conscious 'I' of the intellect is replaced by 'pure consciousness'. A mystic is someone who has had religious experience.
- 23CHALLENGES TO RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCEANOTHER TITLE CARD ;))
- 24Religious Experiences- Difficult to prove true.Religious Experiences are difficult to prove true because;
-They are mainly experienced by the unsupported evidence of individuals
-They are subjective and private
-They are ineffable- so cannot be understood.
-They can be accounted for through natural explanations
-Some are contradictory
-All normal experiences count against them. - 25Challenges to Religious Experiences from Science-Freud's Argument from wish fulfilment.
-Scientific challanges include the fact that the following conditions or actions can produce religious visions or feelings;
-Temporal Lobe Epilepsy
-Artificial stimulation of the temporal lobes through the 'God' Helmet.
-Ethnogens (drugs) such as LSD and psilocybin - 26Religious Responses-Religious Experiences can only be experienced through brain states- how else would God convey them? Mysticism has nothing to do with the occult and visions and voices are not mystical experiences.
-There are two types of mystical experience- extrovertive and introvertive. Extrovertive= Still active and sees the non-sensuos unity that shines through normal objects (all things are one).
Introvertive Experience= sense experience is completely repressed and the conscious 'I' ceases to exist- replaced by unitary, pure consciousness. - 27Swinburne's Principles of Credulity and TestimonyTwi princes make part of Swinbunre's argument that the existence of God is probable; religious experiences make the existence of God even more probable.
- 28The Principle of CredulityHow things seem to be is good grounds for a belief about how things are. It cannot be shown that all claims about religious experiences are unrealiable, or that they are untrue, or that God was not present, or that religious experiences can be relaible explained in other ways, so religious experiences are probably true.
- 29The Principle of TestimonyIn the absence of special considerations, the experiences of others are probably as they report them. If reliable witnesses report religious experiences, we should therefore believe them. It is the sceptic's job to prove them false rather than the believer's job to report them true.
- 30Arguments Against Swinburne-It is hard to see how we can go from people's claims about the reliability of their sense experiences to the claim that mystical and visionary religious experiences are also reliable.
-Moreover, unlike sense experiences, religious experiences are first-person private, so we cannot see people's thoughts to confirm them.
-Even if everybody who has had a religious experience believe that they are experiences of God, this would not prove that God is involved. - 31Arguments for Swinburne-Where those who have had religious experiences show a measurable difference in lifestyle, this is good evidence that the underlying experiences are true.
-This conclusion= suuported by the testimony of others who have had similar experiences and had to make lifestyle changes.
-Cumulative argument supports argument from religious experience. - 32Influence of Religious experiences & their value for religious faithInfluence of Religious Experiences Includes;
-Religious experiences can be foundational- as with St. Paul.
-They are insiprational- Joan of Arc.
-Heart of pilgrimage tradition- Bernadette Soubirous
-Life changing- C.S. Lewis.
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- Flashcards on Religious Experience Cards (AS) , created by Olivia Egan on 27/05/2019.
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- Olivia Egan
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