Download or read book Religious Experience written by Wayne Proudfoot and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1987-09-14 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How is religious experience to be identified, described, analyzed and explained? Is it independent of concepts, beliefs, and practices? How can we account for its authority? Under what conditions might a person identify his or her experience as religious? Wayne Proudfoot shows that concepts, beliefs, and linguistic practices are presupposed by the rules governing this identification of an experience as religious. Some of these characteristics can be understood by attending to the conditions of experience, among which are beliefs about how experience is to be explained.
Download or read book Religious and Spiritual Experiences written by Wesley J. Wildman and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2011-01-06 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is the value of religious and spiritual experiences within human life? Are we evolutionarily programmed to have such experiences? How will emerging technologies change such experiences in the future? Wesley Wildman addresses these key intellectual questions and more, offering a spiritually evocative naturalist interpretation of the diverse variety of religious and spiritual experiences. He describes these experiences, from the common to the exceptional, and offers innovative classifications for them based on their neurological features and internal qualities. His account avoids reductionistic oversimplifications and instead synthesizes perspectives from many disciplines, including philosophy and natural sciences, into a compelling account of the meaning and value of religious and spiritual experiences in human life. The resulting interpretation does not assume a supernatural worldview but incorporates religious and spiritual experiences into a positive affirmation of this-worldly existence.
Download or read book The Varieties of Religious Experience written by William James and published by The Floating Press. This book was released on 2009-01-01 with total page 824 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Harvard psychologist and philosopher William James' The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature explores the nature of religion and, in James' observation, its divorce from science when studied academically. After publication in 1902 it quickly became a canonical text of philosophy and psychology, remaining in print through the entire century. "Scientific theories are organically conditioned just as much as religious emotions are; and if we only knew the facts intimately enough, we should doubtless see 'the liver' determining the dicta of the sturdy atheist as decisively as it does those of the Methodist under conviction anxious about his soul. When it alters in one way the blood that percolates it, we get the Methodist, when in another way, we get the atheist form of mind."
Download or read book Handbook of Religious Experience written by Ralph W. Hood and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 661 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: HANDBOOK OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE is generally recognized as the classic book on the psychology of religious experience. It is the gold standard against which other books in this field are measured. This monumental volume examines in great breadth and depth the nature, roots, ecology, expressions, explanations, and facilitational modes of religious experience. Ultimately, religious experience is central since it is the source, context, and validation of all religion, all religious activities, and all theories of religion. Scripture and sacrament are basically religious experiences. Religious experience is basically the encounter with God in its highest form.
Download or read book The Epistemology of Religious Experience written by Keith E. Yandell and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1994-11-25 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Arguing against the notion that religious experience is ineffable, while advocating the view that it can provide evidence of God's existence, this text contends that social science and nonreligious explanations of religious belief and experience do not cancel out the force of the experience.
Download or read book Thoughts on Religious Experience written by Archibald Alexander and published by . This book was released on 1844 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Religious Experience Reconsidered written by Ann Taves and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2009-09-28 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How the sciences of the mind can advance the study of religion The essence of religion was once widely thought to be a unique form of experience that could not be explained in neurological, psychological, or sociological terms. In recent decades scholars have questioned the privileging of the idea of religious experience in the study of religion, an approach that effectively isolated the study of religion from the social and natural sciences. Religious Experience Reconsidered lays out a framework for research into religious phenomena that reclaims experience as a central concept while bridging the divide between religious studies and the sciences. Ann Taves shifts the focus from "religious experience," conceived as a fixed and stable thing, to an examination of the processes by which people attribute meaning to their experiences. She proposes a new approach that unites the study of religion with fields as diverse as neuroscience, anthropology, sociology, and psychology to better understand how these processes are incorporated into the broader cultural formations we think of as religious or spiritual. Taves addresses a series of key questions: how can we set up studies without obscuring contestations over meaning and value? What is the relationship between experience and consciousness? How can research into consciousness help us access and interpret the experiences of others? Why do people individually or collectively explain their experiences in religious terms? How can we set up studies that allow us to compare experiences across times and cultures? Religious Experience Reconsidered demonstrates how methods from the sciences can be combined with those from the humanities to advance a naturalistic understanding of the experiences that people deem religious.
Download or read book Knowing with the Heart written by Roy Clouser and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2007-09-01 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The famous scientist and philosopher Blaise Pascal memorably said that the heart has its reasons the mind will never know. But too often it's forgotten that Pascal, in referring to the heart's reasons, was not talking about hunches or cozy feelings. Instead he had in mind our intuitive knowledge of the first principles of number, time, space, and motion. And he believed God can be known in the same way, so that belief in God has the same justification as scientific and mathematical principles. Was he right? In Knowing with the Heart, Roy Clouser develops a broad, compelling case for Pascal's position. Against the current climate of religious relativism, Clouser concludes that Christians are entitled to say they know God is real. Written in clear and nontechnical language, Knowing with the Heart is intended for believers concerned with the credentials of their faith--and those who don't believe in God but are willing to investigate and reconsider.
Download or read book The Study of Religious Experience written by Bettina E. Schmidt and published by Equinox Publishing (UK). This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The renowned scientist Sir Alister Hardy approached the complex field of religious and spiritual experience in a similar disciplined and scientific manner in which he approached natural science. Asking people from the public to send him accounts of first-hand experiences with spiritual or religious powers, he established the Religious Experience Research Centre that has remained at the forefront of the academic study of religious experiences. This book will take his work forward and show how to study religious and spiritual experiences in the 21st century. The Study of Religious Experience aims to show how a range of disciplines - including anthropology, philosophy, religious studies, theology, biblical studies and history - approach the topic of religious experience, how this approach is applied and what contributions they make to the study of religious experience.
Download or read book Religious Experience and the Knowledge of God written by Harold A. Netland and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2022-02-08 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For many Christians, personal experiences of God provide an important ground or justification for accepting the truth of the gospel. But we are sometimes mistaken about our experiences, and followers of other religions also provide impressive testimonies to support their religious beliefs. This book explores from a philosophical and theological perspective the viability of divine encounters as support for belief in God, arguing that some religious experiences can be accepted as genuine experiences of God and can provide evidence for Christian beliefs.
Download or read book The Neuroscience of Religious Experience written by Patrick McNamara and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-11-06 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Technical advances in the life and medical sciences have revolutionised our understanding of the brain, while the emerging disciplines of social, cognitive, and affective neuroscience continue to reveal the connections of the higher cognitive functions and emotional states associated with religious experience to underlying brain states. At the same time, a host of developing theories in psychology and anthropology posit evolutionary explanations for the ubiquity and persistence of religious beliefs and the reports of religious experiences across human cultures, while gesturing toward physical bases for these behaviours. What is missing from this literature is a strong voice speaking to these behavioural and social scientists - as well as to the intellectually curious in the religious studies community - from the perspective of a brain scientist.
Download or read book Contemporary Varieties of Religious Experience written by Lynn Bridgers and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2005 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1902, William James's Varieties of Religious Experience is considered a classic in religious studies and the psychology of religion. But how has James's classic study weathered decades of development in psychology and behavioral sciences? Do the assertions about religious experience in the Varieties still ring true in light of neuro-cognitive and neuro-hormonal research, resiliency studies, studies of temperament, and traumatic studies? By extending William James's own research throughout the century since its publication this volume seeks to answer those questions. In doing so, it revolutionizes our understanding of James's own view of psychology and reveals the extraordinary value of James's perspective for religion, psychology, and spirituality today. In doing so, it offers vital insights for pastoral care and faith development at both the individual and congregational level. From the Introduction by James Fowler: Drawing on the authenticity of her own experience, Bridgers carries us into a remarkably clear and well documented account that traces William James's evolution as a psychologist, philosopher, and a deeply engaged inquirer into the dynamics of spiritual development and transformation... This book has a major contribution to make. Bridgers's study illumines the horizons of contemporary research in the study of religious experience, in all its varieties, and in the context of globalization.
Download or read book Religious Experience Justification and History written by Matthew C. Bagger and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1999-11-13 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many philosophers of religion have sought to defend the rationality of religious belief by shifting the burden of proof onto the critic of religious belief. Some have appealed to extraordinary religious experience in making their case. Religious Experience, Justification and History restores neglected explanatory and historical considerations to the debate. Through a study of William James, it contests the accounts of religious experience offered in recent works. Through reflection on the history of philosophy, it also unravels the philosophical use of the term 'justification'. Matthew Bagger argues that the commitment to supernatural explanations implicit in the religious experiences employed to justify religious belief contradicts the modern ideal of human flourishing. For contrast, and to demonstrated the indispensability of history, he includes a study of Teresa of Avila's mystical theology. The controversial supernatural explanations implicit in extraordinary religious experience places the burden of proof on the believer.
Download or read book In Our Own Words written by Juliet Mousseau and published by Liturgical Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by a diverse group of younger women religious from North America, In Our Own Words offers a collection of essays on issues central to apostolic religious life today. The thirteen authors represent different congregations, charisms, ministries, and histories. The topics and concerns that shape these chapters emerged naturally through a collaborative process of prayer and conversation. Essays focus on the vows and community life, individual identity and congregational charisms, and leadership among younger members leading into the future. The authors hope these chapters may form a springboard for further conversation on religious life, inviting others to share their experiences of religious life in today's world.
Download or read book Afro Cuban Religious Experience written by Eugenio Matibag and published by University Press of Florida. This book was released on 2018-02-26 with total page 429 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The books in the Florida and the Caribbean Open Books Series demonstrate the University Press of Florida’s long history of publishing Latin American and Caribbean studies titles that connect in and through Florida, highlighting the connections between the Sunshine State and its neighboring islands. Books in this series show how early explorers found and settled Florida and the Caribbean. They tell the tales of early pioneers, both foreign and domestic. They examine topics critical to the area such as travel, migration, economic opportunity, and tourism. They look at the growth of Florida and the Caribbean and the attendant pressures on the environment, culture, urban development, and the movement of peoples, both forced and voluntary. The Florida and the Caribbean Open Books Series gathers the rich data available in these architectural, archaeological, cultural, and historical works, as well as the travelogues and naturalists’ sketches of the area in prior to the twentieth century, making it accessible for scholars and the general public alike. The Florida and the Caribbean Open Books Series is made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, under the Humanities Open Books program.
Download or read book The Phenomenology of Religious Life written by Martin Heidegger and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2010-02-26 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Scrupulously prepared and eminently readable,” this volume presents Heidegger’s most important lectures on religion from 1920–21 (Choice). In the early 1920s, Martin Heidegger delivered his famous lecture course, Introduction to the Phenomenology of Religion, at the University of Freiburg. He also prepared notes for a course on The Philosophical Foundations of Medieval Mysticism that was never delivered. Though he never prepared this material for publication, it represents a significant evolution in his philosophical perspective. Heidegger’s engagements with Aristotle, Neoplatonism, St. Paul, Augustine, and Martin Luther give readers a sense of what phenomenology would come to mean in the mature expression of his thought. Heidegger reveals an impressive display of theological knowledge, protecting Christian life experience from Greek philosophy and defending Paul against Nietzsche.
Download or read book Music in American Religious Experience written by Philip V. Bohlman and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For students and scholars in American music and religious studies, as well as for church musicians, this book is the first to study the ways in which music shapes the distinctive presence of religion in the United States. The sixteen essayists' contributions to this book address the fullness of music's presence in American religion and religious history.
