1. What is a religious experiences?
Can you list any religious experiences you know about?

2. Religious Experience

3. Learning Outcomes To be able to explain what Religious Experience is.
To be able to Identify Swinburne’s different types of Religious Experience.

4. Would there be religions in the world without religious experiences?
Discussion Point
Would there be religions in the world without religious experiences?
Think, pair, Share

5. Religious Experience
Definition: a direct experience and encounter with the divine
Subjective and objective:
Subjective = an inner experience, can only be explained by you, no one else can see or feel it. Objective = empirical facts that are generally observable by everyone.
Religious Experience can potentially be both of these, but tends to be Subjective and unexplainable.
Ordinary experiences are mostly objective facts.

6. Problems of religious experience
A: Verification B: Privacy of the experience A: Interpretation B: religious pluralism Stretch yourself: What has neurology got to do with it?

7. Types of religious experiences
Mystical [James’ arguments]
Conversion [Paul]
Corporate experiences [Toronto Blessing]
Numinous experiences [Otto and Buber]
Visions and voices [St Teresa – prayer and inner visions].
But what does Swinburne say?

8. religious experiences
Research and create a list of religious experiences. e.g. Lourdes Nicky Cruz Include a brief explanation for each one.
Stretch yourself:
Explain what type of religious experience they are and why.

9. Swinburne (1991)The Existence of God
Swinburne “An omnipotent and perfectly good creator will seek to interact with his creatures”
He distinguishes public and private experiences of God
5 ways to have a religious experience:
Public: ordinary
Public: extraordinary
Private: using normal vocabulary
Private: cannot be described
Private: non-specific

10. Mystical, Numinous and Visions/Voices
Types of experience
PUBLIC
PRIVATE
1. A normal event interpreted in a religious way e.g. seeing the face of the Virgin Mary on the moon
2. Witnessing a very unusual event with others e.g. the resurrection of Jesus
3. A private experience which may be explained using normal language e.g. the Angel Gabriel appearing to Mary 4. A private experience which may not be explained using normal language e.g. mysticism 5. An on going impression of a presence based upon no specific experience – just a sense that God is guiding one’s life
Corporate and some Conversion
Mystical, Numinous and Visions/Voices

11. For each example, explain how it fits into that category.
Can we find examples?
Find one example for each of Swinburne's types of religious experience.
For each example, explain how it fits into that category.
5 ways to have a religious experience:
Public: ordinary
Public: extraordinary
Private: using normal vocabulary
Private: cannot be described
Private: non-specific
Stretch yourself: Research new examples of experiences for this activity.

12. What is a religious experience?
A: Conversion B: Corporate experience A: Numinous experience B: Visions and voice According to Swinburne: Which are public? Which are private?