A2 RE – Unit 4: Religion and Human Experience
Unit 4A Topic III: Religious Experience
Definitions and ideas about religious experience
Ideas about what might in general terms be regarded as a religious experience
What the term might mean
Concept as a whole
 Otto – numinous
 Smart – value of religious experience
 Idea of a human being experiencing God in some sort of personal way
Definition/description common to all religious experiences
 As opposed to specific characteristics associated with specific types of religious
experience
 David Hay – The essential Qualities of Religious Experience
 Swinburne – 5 distinct types of religious experience
 Caroline Davis – 6 styles of religious experience
The relationship between definitions of God/gods/Ultimate Reality and any idea of religious
experience
God and relationship with humans
 If God is transcendent how can we/man experience God directly?
 If God is involved in a religious experience, why is it that there are relatively few people
who have a religious experience?
Identification of different types and styles of religious experience with particular reference to:
i)
conversion
ii)
visions
iii)
revelation
iv)
mystical experience
Examples needed of different types of religious experience
 Possible to refer to different religions
 Can refer IN DEPTH to one religion
 Use these examples to support ideas about definitions
Scholar’s definitions with particular reference to:
i)
characteristics of the different types and style of religious experience
ii)
Process of the different types and style of religious experience.
For example:
 James: 4 Characteristics of a mystical experience
 Rambo/Farhadian: Process involved in a conversion
Influence of religious experience as a source for religious practice and good
religious behaviour
Influence of religious experience in western and eastern religious traditions as a source of
i)
religious practice
Be able to show that a number of these can be derived from specific religious experiences
 E.g. Jewish practice from the revelation of the Law to Moses at Sinai
 Buddhist practise arise from enlightenment achieved by Buddha giving him insight into
ultimate reality
Need to be able to show that practices originate in a specific experience but these have since
been developed well beyond original.
HAVE TO KNOW BOTH EAST AND WEST IDEAS – will be open for comparison of
similarities and dissimilarities.
ii)
good religious behaviour
Issue of how do religions deal with religious behaviour
 Some religions see this as distinct from human behaviour
 Others do not
 Some see religious code and instructions to embrace both
Need to be able to refer to specific examples.
AGAIN NEED TO FOCUS ON EAST AND WEST – e.g. how eastern religions (i.e. Hindu)
simply see religion as part of whole life.
Question of whether religious experience maybe a trigger but litter more than that and the real
significance of both religious practice and behaviour is what has been developed later by
religious institution.
The value of religious experience in particular religions as:
i)
historical events
This may feed into the next section on religious experience as a foundation for religion
ii)
ongoing present day experiences
Important focus on this – i.e. what does it mean now?
Possible to follow the mystical traditions within specific religions
Will need further exploration - might lead to debate about whether elements like prayer might
be regarded as religious experience.
MUST BE ABLE TO REFER TO SPECIFIC RELIGIONS AND THEN DISCUSS THE ISSUE
This section needs to move beyond simply practice and behaviour. The whole element of
religious experience and its value to a religion is required.
Religious experience as a foundation for particular religions
Religious experience as a source of faith for individual religious people
Almost all major religions seem to have been founded upon a religious experience often by an
individual (or for Christianity by a group of people)
NEED TO GIVE CLEAR EXAPLES
Need to show:
i)
What the experience was
ii)
How this led to foundation
iii)
What part the experience had in establishing the foundation
iv)
What arose directly from the experience had in establishing the foundation
Need to show how
i)
significant this foundation still is
ii)
what part it played in the particular religion they are referring to
Next section develops this as it asks about religious experience as a source of faith.
Many people will claim to have had their own religious experience which led them to faith.
Faith can be considered both as referring to whole religions / denominations or to the
individual’s beliefs
The contribution religious experience makes to religious faith as a whole
What contribution has the religious experience made to the specific religions today
 This can refer to the historical and the present day
 Faith can refer to the individual or religion as a whole.
There can be discussion about the need for religious experience for both the individual and for
the whole institution today.
Methods for establishing the validity
Methods for establishing the validity of different religious experiences
i)
individual
ii)
corporate experiences
One might apply different approaches to the different types of religious experience. I.e.
 It has been argued that if the claimed religious experience clearly ahs lead to a change in
an individual and their behaviour then one must accept their claim to be a religious
experience as valid because of the consequential change.
The verification of religious experience and its place (if verified) in a particular religion
The value of the verified religious experience for:
i)
the religious community
ii)
the individual
NEED TO REFER TO SPECIFIC TYPES OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
Method – look at what scholars have said about characteristics and process and then test
specific examples against these to determine validity.
Apply general tests, for example
 Swinburne and his ideas about Testimony and Credulity
 Theresa of Avila and her fourfold test
This may appear similar to the last section but here the candidates are asked to consider the
value of the religious experience which has been validated and hence its value to the
individual and community.
 I.e. one might suggest that an individual religious experience only has value beyond that
specific individual if it is validated and thus can become of values to others who have not
had any such experience.