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Revelation

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Arial Tahoma Wingdings Blends Revelation Religious Experience Rudolph Otto Martin Buber (1878-1965) S ren Kierkegaard (1813-55) Mystical ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Revelation


1
Revelation
  • Part 1
  • Religious Experience

2
Religious Experience
  • Numinosity
  • Feeling of presence of awesome power
  • Feeling of distinctly separate
  • Some classify numinosity as a feature
  • Some classify it as a type which can be
    contrasted with mystical experience

3
Rudolph Otto
  • The idea of the Holy (1936)
  • numinous otherness
  • Religion must derive from a being totally
    separate
  • In presence of that being numinosity is
    experienced
  • But many say God is not impersonal

4
Martin Buber (1878-1965)
  • Stress personal relationship and concept of
    numinous
  • God can reveal himself on personal level
  • Can understand God through other people and
    nature
  • In each Thou we address the Eternal Thou.

5
Søren Kierkegaard (1813-55)
  • Supported Buber position
  • (or the other way round, note dates)
  • Saw faith as a miracle
  • Can only know God through leap of faith
  • Faith arises through experience, including
    religious experience
  • Individual knowledge of God can vary
  • Depends on
  • Personal level of faith
  • Personal denomination of faith
  • Type of faith

6
Mystical Experience
  • Often contain voices or visions
  • Involves spiritual recognition of truths beyond
    normal understanding
  • Features
  • Knowledge of ultimate reality gained
  • Sense of freedom from limitations of time and
    space
  • Sense of oneness with divine
  • Sense of bliss or serenity

7
William James
  • Famous commentator on religious experience
  • The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902)
  • Four characteristics of mystical experience
  • Ineffability
  • Noetic Quality
  • Transciency
  • Passivity

8
William James
  • Ineffability
  • Religious experiences tend to be private events
  • Consist of indescribable sensations
  • St Teresa of Avila
  • I wish I could give a description of at least
    the smallest part of what I learned, but, when I
    try to discover a way of doing so, I find it
    impossible.

9
William James
  • Noetic Quality
  • Provide insights into unobtainable truths
  • Knowledge acquired through intuition and
    perception

10
William James
  • Transciency
  • Most religious experiences last between a few
    minutes and 2 hours
  • But, the significance and effects are out of
    proportion to duration
  • Dreaming for a few minutes can seem like hours

11
William James
  • Passivity
  • Sense of loss of control to higher being
  • Taking on of different personalities
  • E.g. writing with wrong hand speaking in an
    unlearned language

12
F.C.Happold (1893-1971)
  • Mysticism A study and an Anthology (1963)
  • Sought to provide context in which to discuss
    mystical experiences
  • Two types
  • The Mysticism of Love and Union
  • The Mysticism of Knowledge and Understanding

13
F.C.Happold
  • The Mysticism of Love and Union
  • The longing to escape separateness
  • Or a desire for union with God
  • We are governed by two urges
  • The desire to be an individual (separation)
  • The desire to be accepted (to be part of
    something bigger than ourselves)
  • This is because we are sharers in the Divine
    Life

14
F.C.Happold
  • The Mysticism of Knowledge and Understanding
  • Another urge
  • We want to know the secret of the universe (the
    meaning of life)
  • We can look for this through experiential
    knowledge of God
  • Whereas most philosophers play games of
    conceptual counters this knowledge is gained
    through intuition
  • James idea of noetic quality

15
F.C.Happold
  • As well as two types of mysticism Happold says
    there are three aspects
  • Soul-mysticism
  • Nature-mysticism
  • God-mysticism

16
F.C.Happold
  • Soul-mysticism
  • Soul is hidden or numinous
  • Mystical experience is therefore finding the
    soul
  • Looking for self-fulfilment
  • This form of mysticism does not deal with God

17
F.C.Happold
  • Nature-mysticism
  • God is immanent
  • He is everywhere
  • A motion and a spirit
  • That impels all thinking things
  • All objects of all thought
  • And rolls through all things
  • Wordsworth

18
F.C.Happold
  • God-mysticism
  • A desire to return to ones immortal and infinite
    Ground, which is God
  • Idea that human soul is deified
  • Becomes God whilst retaining own identity
  • E.g. Sufi Muslims

19
Voices and Visions
  • Mystical experiences often feature voices and or
    visions
  • For example
  • Conversion of St Paul (Acts 9)
  • Julian of Norwich 14th 15th century female mystic
  • And he showed me more, a little thing, the size
    of a hazelnut, on the palm of my hand, round like
    a ball. I looked at it thoughtfully and wondered,
    What is this? And the answer came, It is all
    that is made.

20
Conversion experiences
  • Conversion is
  • Regeneration
  • Assurance of divine truth
  • Greater understanding of faith
  • Adopting religious attitudes and way of life

21
Conversion experiences
  • Psychological Background to Conversion
  • Each person has a number of aims/ideas in their
    mind ranked by importance
  • Which aim is of paramount importance at any one
    time depends on circumstances
  • A Transformation is when one aim establishes
    permanent priority
  • Emotional excitement can change our primary aim
    from day to day
  • People prone to emotional excitement find it
    difficult to focus on any one aim
  • If a permanent shift of focus is observed it may
    well be a conversion experience
  • If the excitement is caused by something
    religious then it can be classed as a religious
    conversion
  • Often neither the subject nor the observer can
    say what caused the emotional excitement

22
Conversion experiences
  • Prof. Edwin D. Starbuck
  • Noted that all adolescents go through symptoms
    similar to a religious experience
  • Caused by feelings of
  • Incompleteness and imperfection, brooding
    depression etc
  • So adolescents who claim to have a religious
    experience could simply be shifting their
    feelings to religion
  • Starbuck noted though that theology shortened the
    period of storm and stress

23
Conversion experiences
  • William James
  • Noted that some people will never turn to
    religion
  • Maybe cynical
  • Hindered by pessimistic beliefs
  • Some are temporally inhibited
  • Refuse to believe but change their mind

24
Conversion experiences
  • Types of conversion
  • Volitional
  • Gradual change
  • But may one day suddenly become aware of it
  • Self-surrender
  • Involuntary
  • Unconscious experience
  • Usually two things are important in conversion
  • Present sins with a desire to change
  • Positive changes to be made

25
Conversion experiences
  • Permanency
  • Often converts have little knowledge of what they
    have converted to
  • As knowledge is gained so problems are
    encountered
  • Some will effectively convert back to their old
    ways
  • The gradual volitional change is most like to
    hold

26
Conversion experiences
  • Examples of conversion
  • Intellectual
  • Moral
  • Social

27
Conversion experiences
  • Intellectual conversion
  • Conflict between systems of thought
  • One becomes true and one false
  • Can be between religious and non-religious ideas
  • Can be between two different religious ideas

28
Conversion experiences
  • Moral conversion
  • Revolves around lifestyle rather that
    intellectual thought
  • James H. Leuba gives an example
  • Swearing Tom went to church, took note of what
    the preacher said, went home avoiding the pup
    on the way and became Praying Tom.

29
Conversion experiences
  • Social conversion
  • Takes place slowly in subconscious
  • Followed by a rapid sudden change
  • An example would be the conversion of St Paul on
    the road to Damascus

30
Conversion experiences
  • William James conclusions
  • Sudden conversion is very real to the individual
  • For Methodists, salvation only comes to those who
    go through a conversion experience
  • A sudden conversion is like a miracle
  • Even a conversion that seems natural is inspired
    by the divine

31
Corporate Revelations
  • Toronto Blessing
  • Started on 10 January 1994
  • Toronto Airport Vineyard Church
  • Since then has spread around the world
  • Said to be an outpouring of the Holy Spirit
  • Effects are
  • Falling in the spirit
  • Shaking
  • Weeping
  • laughter

32
Putting it all together
  • Answer the following exam question in groups
  • To what extent do mystical experiences show the
    existence of God?.

33
How to answer
  • Explain the concept of mystical experience
  • Explain and discuss the ideas of W. James
  • Explain and discuss the ideas of Happold
  • What do you think and why?
  • Conclusion

34
Revelation
  • Part 2
  • Miracles

35
Miracles
  • The word miracle tends to be used in society to
    refer to an amazing event
  • E.g. birth of a child
  • In religious terms the word miracle is intended
    to refer to something far more significant
  • In terms of revealing God, the idea of miracles
    is appealing as they can offer physical evidence

36
What is a Miracle?
  • Traditional concept
  • An interruption to the process of nature that
    cannot be explained by natural laws
  • An interruption that bears some deeper, usually
    religious significance
  • A miracle may be accurately defined as A
    transgression of a law of nature by a particular
    volition of the deity or by the interposition of
    some invisible agent.
  • David Hume, An enquiry Concerning Human
    Understanding, 1748

37
What is a Miracle?
  • Richard Swinburne
  • Illustrates transgression with biblical examples
    e.g. turning water into wine
  • But wine can be made with water as the main
    ingredient
  • The miracle is therefore in the timing
  • Illustrates the deeper significance
  • If God intervened in the natural order to make a
    feather drop here rather than there for no deep
    ultimate purpose, or to upset a childs box of
    toys just for spite, these events would not
    naturally be described as miracles.
  • Richard Swinburne (ed), Miracles, 1989

38
What is a Miracle?
  • R.F. Holland
  • Suggests that something does not have to break
    natural law in order to be considered a miracle
  • A coincidence can be taken religiously as a sign
    and called a miracle.
  • E.g. A young boy strays on to a railway line just
    as a train comes along, the boy would be hit and
    killed except that the driver suddenly has a
    heart attack, releases the dead mans handle and
    the train stops a metre from the boy.

39
Can a miracle occur?
  • Taking Hollands view, clearly the answer is
    yes.
  • However, Hume says
  • Nothing is esteemed a miracle if it ever happens
    in the common course of nature
  • David Hume, An enquiry Concerning Human
    Understanding, 1748

40
Can a miracle occur?
  • Three points to consider
  • Doubt as to existence of natural laws
  • The argument against miracles from the definition
    of a natural law
  • Humes critique of miracles

41
Can a miracle occur?
  • Doubt as to existence of natural laws
  • If there are no natural laws they cannot be
    broken
  • therefore definition of a miracle breaking a
    natural law does not hold
  • Brian Davies
  • God is equally present in every action
  • Therefore on intervention
  • Most Theists
  • Accept that God has put natural laws in place for
    benefit of humans
  • God can, and does, interrupt the natural process

42
Can a miracle occur?
  • The argument against miracles from the definition
    of a natural law
  • John Hick
  • We can declare a prior that there are no
    miracles
  • Natural laws are formed retrospectively based on
    what has already happened
  • An unusual, previously unwitnessed event, widens
    our understanding of natural laws
  • Swinburne
  • We can say what we would normally expect to
    happened in a given situation
  • Therefore an event like a resurrection is
    miraculous as it goes against the norm

43
Can a miracle occur?
  • Humes critique of miracles
  • Did not say miracles
  • Simply claimed that we could not prove that one
    had happened
  • Laws of nature supported innumerably over
    hundreds of years
  • E.g. millions of examples to show that once dead,
    humans do not return to life
  • So, in light of evidence, more probable that
    miracle did not happen

44
Can a miracle occur?
  • Humes additional arguments
  • First
  • Insufficient number of reliable people attesting
    miracles
  • Second
  • Those testifying to the miracle have natural
    tendency to suspend reason
  • Third
  • The source of miracle stories are from ignorant
    peoples
  • Fourth
  • Writers of miracle stories are bias and have a
    vested interest in promoting their religion

45
Can a miracle occur?
  • Critique of Hume
  • The whole point of a miracle is that it is the
    exception to the rule
  • We would also have to reject much of recent
    science as it has changed our perception of the
    world
  • Brian Davies gives an example people have now
    walked on the moon, once thought impossible
  • R Swinburne argues that we use the same criteria
    to determine scientific laws as we do for
    determining miracles, if we accept one we should
    accept the other

46
Can a miracle occur?
  • Critique of Humes additional points
  • Gave no indication of what a sufficient number
    would be
  • Miracles come from just about all nations
  • That people need to prove their intelligence is
    objectionable
  • That miracles are claimed by different religions
    does not rule out possibility of them happening

47
Can a miracle occur?
  • Maurice Wiles
  • Rejects miracles on moral grounds
  • Why no intervention in Auschwitz and yet there
    are acclaimed interventions in trivial matters
  • Either God does not intervene or he chooses to
    help some and not others
  • If the latter, he is not worthy of worship

48
Implications of miracles for problem of evil
  • Miracle accounts talk of god intervening to help
    those who worship him
  • But, if all-loving he would want to help
    followers equally
  • Why then help some and not others?
  • Were those rescued through the Exodus morally
    superior to the 6 million killed in the
    holocaust?
  • This argument does not count against miracles
    intended to demonstrate his existence rather than
    help individuals
  • For example resurrection of Christ cannot be
    perceived as unfair

49
Putting it all together
  • Answer the following exam question in groups
  • Hume has shown that miracles are nothing more
    than an attempt to justify ones religion.
    Discuss.

50
How to answer
  • Explain the concept of miracles
  • Explain Humes arguments against them
  • Critically discuss Humes ideas bringing in the
    ideas of Davies, Hick and Swinburne
  • What do you think and why?
  • Conclusion

51
Revelation
  • Part 3
  • Scripture

52
Revelation through Scripture
  • Propositional Revelation
  • God speaking directly to individuals
  • Adam and Eve (Gen 1-3)
  • Abraham (Gen 121-3)
  • Moses (Ex 3-41-17)

53
Revelation through Scripture
  • Propositional Revelation
  • Francis Schaeffer
  • Acceptance of propositional revelation depends on
    view of the beginning
  • Those who accept Big Bang theory, but still
    accept God, would see God as impersonal not
    speaking to people
  • Those who accept creation theory would logically
    accept a personal God who can communicate

54
Revelation through Scripture
  • Non-propositional revelation
  • The idea that scripture is inspired by God not
    the word of God
  • William Temple
  • Suggests that stories in the bible are not to be
    taken literally
  • There are truths of revelation, that is to say,
    propositions which express the results of correct
    thinking concerning revelation, but they are not
    themselves directly revealed.
  • William Temple, Nature Man and God, (1934)

55
Revelation through Scripture
  • Interpretation of scripture
  • Literalist view
  • Takes the bible literally
  • i.e. universe created in a literal 6 days
  • Disregards no part of the bible
  • Bible is authority
  • Literalist would accept propositional view

56
Revelation through Scripture
  • Conservative view
  • God inspire the bible
  • Bible is authoritive as it comes from God
  • Bible not leaders has final authority
  • Cannot add to bible
  • However, maybe errors in bible as written by
    humans influenced by their society
  • Therefore bible does not provide clear guidelines
  • Allows for individual interpretation
  • Follows non-propositional approach

57
Revelation through Scripture
  • Liberal view
  • Bible records experiences of people
  • Writers have been influenced by their society
  • Bible not directly inspired by God
  • Therefore bible does not have absolute authority
  • Liberals free to reject parts of bible that seem
    irrelevant
  • Individual conscience is the moral guide
  • Biblical and scientific ideas can be matched
  • Steers away from either propositional or
    non-propositional approach as origin of the bible
    is not important

58
Putting it all together
  • Answer the following exam question in groups
  • To what extent do propositional and
    non-propositional views of revelation affect the
    way in which scripture is understood? (45)

59
How to answer
  • Start with an introduction that outlines the
    problem/difficulties of understanding scripture
  • Explain in detail the two propositional ideas
  • Ensure that you include the ideas of the
    philosophers who have contributed
  • Explain the different ideas of the Literalists,
    conservatives and liberals
  • What do you think and why?
  • Conclusion
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