Religious Experience

1. Religious Experience

2. What is a Religious Experience? Religious Experience def. An experiential encounter with the supernatural. Examples: • Abraham hears a voice to venture to Haran • Moses sees Yahweh in the burning bush • Isaiah’s encounter and commissioning • Conversion account of Saul mysterium tremendum et fascinans

3. So Many Claims of Religious Experience “There was not a mere consciousness of something there, but fused in the central happiness of it, a startling awareness of some ineffable good. Not vague either, not like the emotional effect of some poem, or scene, or blossom, or music, but the sure knowledge of the close presence of a sort of mighty person, and after it went, the memory persisted as the one perception of reality. Everything else might be a dream, but not that.” –William James

4. So Many Claims of Religious Experience “The Ego has disappeared. I have realized my identity with Brahman and so all my desires have melted away. I have arisen above my ignorance and my knowledge of this seeming universe. What is the joy I feel? Who shall measure it? I know nothing by joy, limitless, unbounded! The treasure I have found there cannot be described in words. The mind cannot conceive of it. My mind fell like a hailstone into that vast expanse of Brahman’s ocean. Touching one drop of it, I melted away and became one with Brahman…

5. So Many Claims of Religious Experience Where is this universe? Who took it away? Has it merged into something else? A while ago I beheld it—now it exists no longer. Is there anything apart or distinct from Brahman? Now, finally and clearly, I know that I am the Atman [the soul identified with Brahman], whose nature is eternal joy. I see nothing, I hear nothing, I know nothing that is separate from me.” -Shankara

6. So Many Claims of Religious Experience • The Buddhist monk who is an atheist senses the presence of the living Buddha. • The Virgin Mary appears to S (in a dream). • A mother senses the presence of the spirit of the river, telling her to throw back her deformed infant because it belongs to the river and not to her. • An atheist has a deep sense of nothingness in which she is absolutely convinced that the universe has manifested itself to her as a deep void.

7. Problems With Religious Experience Inter-Church How do we confirm the truth of religious experience? • Position 1: We have a duty to believe simply on the report of others (Gary Gutting). • Position 2: Religious experience is only authoritative for those who have the experience (William James).

8. Problems With Religious Experience Extra-Church Skeptical arguments against religious experience: • Position 3: Delusional, misfiring of neurons in the brain as an effect of evolution (Richard Dawkins) • Position 4: Father image projection (Sigmund Freud) • Position 5: Existential fallacy, it is a fallacy to go from the psychological experience of X to the reality of X (Bertrand Russell).

9. Theological Rationalism & Epistemic Problems • Shouldn’t we follow the evidence where it leads? • How do we know if our personal religious experiences are genuine? • H2O • H2O C2H5OH

10. Types of Religious Experiences Expectant Religious Experiences • Pleasure, convicting, feels good • Usually during worship or prayer Non-Expectant Religious Experiences • Feelings of pain, depression, loneliness, abandonment, tension • Usually during times of suffering, pain, and/or doubt

11. What Now? • Notice when God actually works in your life (not just emotions). • Relish the intimacy of experience in your relationship with Jesus. • Know your faith to be true and show your faith to be true. • Rely on God during the non-expectant experiences.