Religious Experience

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A level Religious Studies (Philosophy) Flashcards on Religious Experience, created by Izzy Noone on 26/05/2017.
Izzy Noone
Flashcards by Izzy Noone, updated more than 1 year ago
Izzy Noone
Created by Izzy Noone over 7 years ago
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Question Answer
Rudolph Otto (1869-1937) A philosopher who described religious experience
The idea of the Holy (1917) Otto's book
Numinous Otto's word for the sacred or holy in a religious experience
Jonathon Webber A contemporary philosopher who divides religious experiences into 3 groups
William James (1842-1910) A philosopher and psychologist who examined and described religious experience
Ineffable Overwhelmingly powerful and impossible to put fully into words
Noetic Provides knowledge/contains insights, but through intuition or inner illumination
A priori Independent of sense experience
A posteriori Dependent on sense experience
William Alston A contemporary philosopher who examined and described religious experience
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) Once wrote when a man tells me that God spoke to him in a dream, this "is no more to say he dreamed that God spokes to him
Richard Swinburne A contemporary philosopher who examined and described religious experience
The Existence of God (Oxford 1979) Swinburne's book. Contains the Principles of Testimony and Credulity
The Principle of Credulity States how things seem is usually how they are
The Principle of Testimony States that in the absence of reasons to think the contrary, we usually accept the testimony of others
Peter Vardy A contemporary critic of Swinburne
The Puzzle of God (Fount 1995) Vardy's book
William of Ockham (1285- 1347) Invented Ockham's razor
Ockham's razor A method of choosing between arguments or positions. States that "entities should not be multiplied needlessly"
Transiency Mystical states cannot be sustained for long.
Passivity The mystic feels as if his own will were in abeyance, and indeed sometimes as if he were grasped and held by a superior power.
The first argument is from my personal experience to a God. 1. I have had a profound and unique religious experience; 2. The experience was so profound and unique that it could only have had God as its source; 3. Therefore God exists. OR 1. I have had an experience of God; 2. Therefore God exists.
The second argument is from the experience of the human race to a God. 1. Religious experiences have characterised religions across the globe throughout history; 2. There is a high degree of agreement about the content of these experiences, in terms of what is at their core. 3. What is at their core is an ineffable experience of an ultimate reality beyond the senses; 4. Since the religions and historical eras have been, to a large degree, independent of one another, this is strong evidence to suggest there is an ineffable ultimate reality beyond the senses. 5. The best alternative description of an ineffable ultimate reality beyond the senses is God. 6. Therefore, there is strong evidence for the existence of God;
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