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