Alistair Hardy - RERU/RERC

What?
1. Centre that focusses on the nature of contemporary religious expereicne.
2. Founded in 1969 in Manchester College Oxford but moved to Lampeter
3. Publishes books, articles, papers, reports and explores the nature of inner religious experience.
Statistics
1. In 1979, they had over 3000 accounts of religious experience, in 2006 this had doubled to over 6000, therefore demonstrating the frequency of religious experience.
2. it is mostly the middle aged and elderly who have such experiences - links to Durkheim and the notion of 'life crises'
Impact of RERU
1. Builds academic knowledge
2. Induces an act of faith, "ask and it shall be given, seek and it shall be found" (Luke 11:9)
3. Qualitative, subjective research into a transcendental reality that stimulates a sense of 'something other'
4. Represents individualism and Westernisation
"The Spiritual Nature of Man" - BOOK
1. Published in 1979
2. "Religion is another dimension that changes and alters behaviour"
3. Four fold
4. 1. Body of Knowledge from first hand accounts of experiences.
  1. 2. Patterns of the reports
    1. 3. Quantitative studies
      1. 4. Tentative conclusions
Roger Tagholm (Guardian, 2009)
1. RERU is currently lead by Paul Badham
2. Its easy to dismiss experiences as a product of the human psyche however it is likely that they are credible. Links to Swinburne's Principle of Credulity
Critique
1. Judeo-Chrisitan/Western Bias
2. Ignores Eastern Religious expereince
3. However, expereinece is arguably a Western phenomenon
Temple Foundation
1. Provided a grant to RERU in order to explore a global religious experience phenomenon, in China = Buddhist origin- recognizes the interconnectedness of religious experience.

Siguiente

Alistair Hardy - RERU/RERC

Descripción

Resumen del Recurso

Similar

	Creado por Sarah Mather hace más de 11 años