RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCES ESSAY PLANNING DOCUMENT
Possible essay titles:
- ‘Religious experiences are union with a greater power’- asses this view
- Are religious experiences just illusions
- ‘religious experience justifies belief in G-d’ How far do you agree
- Are religious experiences evidence of G-d
- Do religious experiences prove G-ds existence
- Asses whether testimony and witness is sufficient to validate religious experiences
- Mystical experiences are of g-d- how far do you agree
- Asses whether religious experiences are the product of a physiological effect
- Are corporate religious experiences more reliable than individual experiences
- How successful are the views and main conclusions of William James
- Does the influence religious experience have show they have a supernatural source
- Conversion experiences are more reliable than mystical experiences- how far do you agree
WILLIAM JAMES- for religious experiences
- Mystical experiences- direct experience of g-d- oneness- supported by Happold and Teresa
and Avila
OTTO- NUMINOUS- against mystical religious experience
- Experiences of awe and wonder in the presence of g-d- not united but aware of our own
insignificance
, DO RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCES PROVE G-DS EXISTENCE
INTRO:
What is a religious experience= Rudolf Otto famously proclaimed them to be an “apprehension of the wholly
other”- having experienced a spiritual presence external to oneself
- Through William james’ view on mystical experiences it can be argued that these divine encounters are
proof of g-ds existence as they act as a revelation of the transcendent
- Conversion experiences are perhaps the most convincing as evidence of the divine due to their long term
effects
- However- it can be argued that there are alternative, psychological reasons for these experiences, which
make it less convincing
My argument: we are unable to suggest that religious experiences “prove” g-d, due to the lack of flexibility of the
word (impossible to prove anything about g-d) - but we can conclude that through religious experiences there is
strong evidence for the existence of g-d
Two assumptions must be made
- Experiences are genuine and cannot be explained in a natural way
- It is g-d that is causing these experiences
We cannot undermine the importance of religious experiences and the effects that they have on people
Possible essay titles:
- ‘Religious experiences are union with a greater power’- asses this view
- Are religious experiences just illusions
- ‘religious experience justifies belief in G-d’ How far do you agree
- Are religious experiences evidence of G-d
- Do religious experiences prove G-ds existence
- Asses whether testimony and witness is sufficient to validate religious experiences
- Mystical experiences are of g-d- how far do you agree
- Asses whether religious experiences are the product of a physiological effect
- Are corporate religious experiences more reliable than individual experiences
- How successful are the views and main conclusions of William James
- Does the influence religious experience have show they have a supernatural source
- Conversion experiences are more reliable than mystical experiences- how far do you agree
WILLIAM JAMES- for religious experiences
- Mystical experiences- direct experience of g-d- oneness- supported by Happold and Teresa
and Avila
OTTO- NUMINOUS- against mystical religious experience
- Experiences of awe and wonder in the presence of g-d- not united but aware of our own
insignificance
, DO RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCES PROVE G-DS EXISTENCE
INTRO:
What is a religious experience= Rudolf Otto famously proclaimed them to be an “apprehension of the wholly
other”- having experienced a spiritual presence external to oneself
- Through William james’ view on mystical experiences it can be argued that these divine encounters are
proof of g-ds existence as they act as a revelation of the transcendent
- Conversion experiences are perhaps the most convincing as evidence of the divine due to their long term
effects
- However- it can be argued that there are alternative, psychological reasons for these experiences, which
make it less convincing
My argument: we are unable to suggest that religious experiences “prove” g-d, due to the lack of flexibility of the
word (impossible to prove anything about g-d) - but we can conclude that through religious experiences there is
strong evidence for the existence of g-d
Two assumptions must be made
- Experiences are genuine and cannot be explained in a natural way
- It is g-d that is causing these experiences
We cannot undermine the importance of religious experiences and the effects that they have on people
