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key thinkers in the study of religious experience (religious experience) -…
key thinkers in the study of religious experience (religious experience)
William James
aimed to take an objective, scientific approach to religious experience and explore it through collecting people's own accounts of their experiences
thought that religious experience could be tested for validity by its long-lasting effects, just as a medicine can be tested by seeing whether it makes the patient better
approach to understanding truth is pragmatist - he thought that the truth of something could be established by its practical results
four main qualities
ineffability
- difficult to express in normal everyday words
noetic quality
- recipients feel they have learned something they didn't know before
transience
- the experiences do not last long although the effects may last a lifetime
passivity
- the person feels the experience is happening to them rather than that they are doing
noticed that religious experiences feel very convincing to those who have them
does not prove anything but that it should be taken seriously
Rudolf Otto
The Idea of the Holy
aimed to explore the nature of the divine as encountered through religious experience
thought it was central to religion that people should experience God or the divine
thought that the divine could be described as 'mysterious tremendous et fascinates' - an awe-inspiring, fascinating mystery
three main characteristics in religious experience:
quality of mystery making the individual realise that God can never be fully understood
a quality of ultimate importance
a quality that is both attractive and dangerous
Swinburne
Is There a God?
- he argued that people should take RE just as seriously as other kinds of experience
Principle of Credulity = we should be prepared to trust our own experiences unless we have good reason not to. If it seems to us that we are experiencing God then we should be prepared to believe that we really are experiencing God
Principle of Testimony = if people tell us they have had an experience, we should be prepared to believe them unless we have good grounds not to