NUMINOUS RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE

NUMINOUS RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE

• - Numinous experience is of awe and wonder in the presence of an almighty + transcendent God
• -Numinous experience is an awareness of human nothingness often faced with a powerful being
• -It comes from 'Numen' = to bow the head
• -RUDOLPH OTTO was a protestant theologian who said his vast knowledge of natural sciences , comparative religion + oriental tradition to analyse religion
• -In his book 'THE IDEA OF HOLY' tried to identify what it was about religious experience that made it religious rather than just a experience.
• -He wanted to show that it was fundamental to religion that individual should have a sense of personal encounter with natural forces which he described it as 'MYSTERIUM TREMENDUM ET FASCINANS'

Slide 2

• - OTTO argued that the awe was in response to the immanence of God
• -OTTO used the term Numinous to refer to a being that had an awesome power
• -OTTO argued that religion must derive from a being that is totally separate from this world
• -He said it is in the presence of such being that numinosity is experienced
• -OTTO said that a divine would be recognized as having 3 main qualities :
• 1.A MYSTERIOUS QUALITY - Realization that God is incomprehensible.That God can be met and his work can be seen but God can never be captured , understood or described fully
• 2.God is reconginsed as being of ultimate importance
• 3.God is both attractive + dangerous.OTTO tried to explain the feeling of god cannot be controlled but at the same time the individuals feels a sense of privilege during a religious experience

Slide 3

• -OTTO made use of the term Numinous as the feeling of awe-inspiring holiness
• -OTTO said ordinary language could not do justice to religious experience as an experience is not compatible with normal sense of experience
• -OTTO argued that religious language is a SCHEMA - Idea which cannot be expressed
• -However PROUDFOOT in his book ' PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION' challenges OTTOS definition of the word Numinous as he believes that terms such as Numinous are used of religious experience precisely so that the experience cannot be fully described and analysed.
• -OTTO argued tha God is 'WHOLLY OTHER ' - So completely different + distinct to humans
• -OTTO argued that humans are not able to know God unless he reveals himself = this revelation is felt on a emotional level

WEAKNESS OF OTTO

• - OTTO says how Numinous experience is 'ONCE + FOR ALL ' expereince which means that there can be no further expereince

FRIEDRICH SCHLIEILERMACHER

• - FRIDERICH inspired OTTO His famous book 'AN RELIGION : SPEECHES TO ITS CULTURED DESPISERS'
• - FREIDERICH was theologian who claimed that the essence of religion was based in personal
• -He said everyone knows their is a divine but some people are distracted by other concerns
• -He argued that religious ppl are aware of divine + try to develop this sense of the the divine
• -
• -FREIDERICH said religious experience is true
• -He called religion a 'SENSE + TASTE FOR THE INFINITE' and also the 'FEELING OF ABSOLUTE INDEPENDENCE'
• -He believed individual religious experience was based on the sense of being wholly dependent
• -In his view religious experience could be in variety of forms in different cultures
• - He believed Christianity was the highest of the religious but not the only true one
• -Christianity was the highest as Jesus Christ was the only example of someone with complete God conciousness

WEAKNESS OF FRIEDERICH

• -He put too much emphasis on the subjective reducing religion to emotion + removing possibility of showing that religious claims are based on facts
• -There should be a way of testing against he bible = doctrines of church otherwise any experience would count as valid e.g. Hallucinations

BUBER

• - Believes that personal relationships can exist regardless of concept of the Numinous suggesting 2 types of relationship = 'I IT ' + 'I THOU'
• -BUBER therefore states that God is eternal thou therefore God reveals himself through other ppl + nature.

KIERKEGAARD

• -KIERKEGAARD supported BUBER
• -He saw faith as a miracle + believed that only way that God can be known was through taking a 'LEAP OF FAITH' faith arose through human experience which could include religious experience
• -BUBER + KIERKEGAARD are basically saying that knowledge of God could be different from for each individual.Any such knowledge will depend on the personal level of faith , the denomination of that faith + type of faith of individuals

CRITICISMS OF NUMINOUS

• -PROFESSOR DR.RAMACHDRAN ( university of California ) discovered that heightened activity in temporal lobe of brain floods all senses with huge emotional experience similar to the account by believers of Numinous experience

GENERAL VIEWS ON RELIGIOUS EXP.

• FREUD - Argued that Religious experiences are just 'ILLUSIONS' + just creations of the brain + false examples of our desires + Freud believes religious exp. could be hallucinations caused by unconscious which all humans have
• RICHARD DAWKINS - Wrote a book against religious experiences called 'THE GOD OF DELUSIONS' arguing that religious experiences just outcomes of alternative explanations
• AYER argued that religious experiences all together are FALLACIOUS + He also argued that humans are mistaken + unreliable to believe in them so therefore there is no proof for existence of GOD
• FLEW - Used the idea of having a blik to show that religious believers will not allow anything to count against their religion therefore they will always defend if they had a religious experience
• Starbucks argued that religious experiences may just be the normal process / development of adolescences finding its sense of identity
• Religious experience = subjective + not testable by empirical means
• KANT - Rejects the possibility of rebellious exp. as we do not have the sense to experience God , as go belongs in the NOUMENAL REALM.God is not an object within time + space

GENERAL VIEWS CONTINUED

• MARX- Described religion as the 'OPIUM OF THE MASSES' argued that religion should be overthrown + religious exp = product of culture
• SWINBURNE - CUMULATIVE ARGUMENT : 1.So many people have had religious experiences in past that they simply cannot be making up.God must be the cause of it . 2. Cumulative argument shows that its probable that god exists , therefore the claim that religious experience are true and accurate are more likely to be true then false
• RESPONSE TO CUMULATIVE ARGUMENT : 1.Universal consent does not prove anything , many ppl can be mistaken or deceived e.g. believing the world was flat
• 2.Flew rejects this argument using his '10 leaky buckets analogy' to show that 10 deeply flawed arguments do not make 1 good one
• PHYSIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE : Over-excitement in the Limbic system leads to ppl to be more likely to have religious experience due to HYPER - RELIGIOSITY
• CRITICISM OF PHYSIOLOGICAL EXPLANATION = Not everyone who claims to have a religious experience has a abnormal brain system