Religious Experience Student Workbook 29 Pages with Activities

29 Page BOOKLET

Front Cover: The Specification

Pages 2-4 : - Definitions with reference to James, Otto, Schleiermacher but also Hardy. Student annotation task.
Features of Religious Experience.

Pages 4-8 The nature of religious experience with particular reference to Visions – sensory; intellectual; dreams. Case studies and student activities plentiful in this section.

Page 9-11 Conversion – individual/communal; sudden/gradual. Again with case studies and student tasks

Page 11-14 Mysticism – transcendent; ecstatic and unitive.
John of the Cross (with music)
Ed Miller
William James

Page 15-21 Tersa of Avila’s Analogies
Prayer – types and stages of prayer according to Teresa of Avila.
A close reading of Avila’s Autobiograhy and a task on the Garden Analogy
An in-depth analysis of the Mansions with a useful table
Sources of wisdom task with quotes from Teresa.

Page 22 - Summary so far

Page 23 - William James Re-cap
William James’ four characteristics of mystical experience: ineffable, noetic, transient and passive.

Page 24 - Rudolf Otto Re-Cap

Rudolf Otto – the concept of the numinous; mysterium tremendum; the human predisposition for religious experience.

Page 25-28 Challenges with reference to Franks-Davis (description-related; subject-related and object-related challenges).
An evaluative question
Brief mention of Freud, Feuerbachm Jung and medical challenges to Rel Exp
Challenges to the objectivity and authenticity of religious experience:
Claims of religious experience rejected on grounds of misunderstanding; claims delusional - possibly related to substance misuse, fantastical claims contrary to everyday experiences.
Challenges: individual experiences valid even if non-verifiable; claims could be genuine – integrity of individual; one-off experiences can still be valid even if never repeated.