Religious experience

Question 1

who said ‘mysterium tremendum et fascinans’

in which book?

Answer 1

rudolf otto
book- ‘idea of the holy’

Question 2

what does ‘mysterium tremendum et fascinans’ mean

Answer 2

fearful and fascinating mystery

Question 3

describe Swinburne’s
- principle of testimony
- principle of credulity

Answer 3

-POT: we should believe others’ experiences unless we have good grounds not to

• POC- we should believe our own experiences unless we have good ground not to

Question 4

what is Schleliermacher’s argument on religious experience

Answer 4

they are ‘self authenticating’ and dont need proving to see if they are genuine

they are primarily emotional and can be experienced by all

Question 5

how did James define religion and in what book

Answer 5

religion is the ‘feelings, acts and experiences of individual men in their solitude’

book- the varieties of religious experience

Question 6

what was Caroline Franks Davis objection to Swinburne’s principle of testimony
in what book?

Answer 6

• God’s existence too important to rely on one account and a single experience
• the evidential force of religious experience

Question 7

what was William Alston’s argument on religious experience

Answer 7

they are ‘prima facie’ and should be taken at face value and accepted

Question 8

give 2 examples of corporate experiences

Answer 8

Toronto blessing
lady of Medjugorje 1981

Question 9

who said ‘religion is the opium of the people’ and what is meant by it?

Answer 9

• Marx
• religion is like a drug that people take to help them in difficult situations
• religous experience is a product of a person’s desperate situation

Question 10

argument against lady of medjugorje experience

Answer 10

• Ivanka first one to see figure
• recently lost mother- could be product of grief and trauma
• friends lied to her to avoid upsetting her

Question 11

Describe Freud’s argument on religious experience

Answer 11

• ‘infantile neurosis’
  God is a made up parent-figure as we cannot cope in this world alone

Question 12

Describe Feuerbachs argument on religious experience

Answer 12

• God is man ‘writ in large letters’
• God is a figure of our imagination, of all the things we want to be

Question 13

how does James being a pragmatist link to ‘fruits not roots’

Answer 13

pragmatist- looks for practical results
we can assess validity of religious experience by assessing EFFECTS (fruits) instead of the CAUSES (roots)