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2 – The Nature and InCuence of Religious Experience
2.1 - The Nature of Religious Experience
Context of religious experience across religious tradi
ons, range of de+ni
ons related to
belief in God and/or ul
mate reality, theis
c and monis
c views, ine/ability, noe
c,
transience, passivity
The de+ni
ons of God of classic monotheism are consistent across philosophical ideas. God is
omnipotent – all-powerful – so he is the most powerful thing there can ever be in any
possible universe. He is omniscient – all-knowing – so he knows everything that can ever be
known in any possible universe. God is omnibenevolent – morally perfect – so he always acts
for the best and cannot make a morally bad decision. He is also omnipresent, spiritual,
omnitemporal, a necessary being and indivisible.
Theism is the belief that the divine is a personal being, and monotheism is the belief that
there is only one divine being, while polytheists believe that there is more than one divine
being. The divine being is believed to be life a person: it makes decisions and has agency, it
acts in the world, is a moral agent and forms rela
onships with humans. In theis
c tradi
on,
religious experiences are seen as encounters with this divine person. Monism is the belief
that everything is God, some
mes called pantheism. The divine reality is impersonal, it is a
universal truth, a moral force, does not enter into rela
onships with humans and is opposed
to egoism and materialism.
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A key aspect of religious experiences is their ine/ability: they are indescribable in ordinary
language, and the experient cannot put them into words. In theis
c tradi
on, the ine/ability
grows more pronounced over
me, and the experient feels overwhelmed. In monis
c
tradi
on, ine/ability is an important feature, and enlightenment cannot be described in
words and is di/erent for everyone.
Another aspect of religious experiences is that they are noe
c: they bring divine knowledge,
which may be a proposi
onal revela
on or a non-proposi
onal revela
on. This knowledge is
personal and is supposed to be an insight that is deeper than anything that can be worked
out by the discursive intellect. In theis
c tradi
on, noesis is a revela
on of God's nature,
involving God handing down commandments or predic
ons. In monis
c tradi
on, noesis is
important as the divine reality is an ul
mate truth about life, presented as guidelines to be
built upon a2erwards.
Religious experiences are transient: they are short-lived, however the e/ects may be very
long-las
ng. In theis
c tradi
on, there is a gulf between humans and God, so the encounter
is always going to be short-lived. In monis
c tradi
on, transience is less no
ceable because
humans are not seen as sinful.
A fundamental aspect of religious experiences is their passivity: the human is passive and
they are not in control of the experience, and may not have wanted it to happen. In theis
c
tradi
on, the experient feels as though God is direc
ng or controlling them. In monis
c
tradi
on, the believer usually seeks out the experience through medita
on, however during
the experience, the experient is passive and recep
ve to universal truths.
Types: conversion, prayer, medita
on, mys
cism, numinous, rela
onship between religious
experience and proposi
onal and non-proposi
onal revela
on
Conversion is the adop
on of a new religious belief that di/ers from a previously-held belief.
When the e/ects of a religious experience are life-changing, they trigger conversion. The
result is a greater understanding of faith and the adop
on of a religious aGtude. These
e/ects can be permanent or temporary, and can be conscious and voluntary or involuntary
and unconscious. There are three di/erent types of conversion: intellectual conversions (a
change in thought), moral conversions (a change in behaviour), and social conversions (a
change in worship).
Theists describe prayer as a conversa
on with God. There are many types of prayer,
including adora
on, confession, thanksgiving, pe
on and intercession. God is believed to
respond to prayer in di/erent ways: God answers prayers in a spectacular way, such as
through miracles, or God answers prayers but not in the way the person expects.
Medita
on is more important in monis
c tradi
on, where the divine is believed to be a
universal truth rather than a personal being. Medita
on has a lower status in the theis
c
tradi
on, however some Chris
ans use medita
on or contempla
on to reach a higher
spiritual level.
Mys
cism is where the recipient feels a sense of union with the divine, involving the
recogni
on of truths beyond normal understanding. Happold divided mys
cal experiences
into the mys
cism of love and union, where there is a longing to escape from loneliness and
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