WHAT DO WE EXPERIENCE IF WE HAVE RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE?
Numen 2002 DOI: 10.1163/156852702320263954 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that religious experiences always involve identifying what is seen with known interpretive patterns, and that such experiences are unlikely to reveal anything entirely new. |
Abstract
AbstractThe starting point of the paper is the historical fact that people who have special forms of religious experience such as seeing saints, angels, gods or goddesses can always say whom they saw. They never met anyone totally unknown to them. The question is why. The answer that the paper proposes and invites to discuss is that having experience means to identify what is happening with what is known as pattern of interpretation. The knowledge of those patterns is due either to socialisation or to further studies in favour of, or against, those patterns, yet, it is unlikely that something totally new will ever be discovered through those forms of religious experience.