Religious Experience: A Genealogy of the Concept and Future Prospects of Its Scholarly Use
August 31, 2023 DOI: 10.1163/9789004549319_007 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that because experience is subjective, individuals determine whether an experience is "religious" by comparing it with similar earlier experiences in their own lives and by citing its post-experiential transformative effects. Proposes that scholarly reconstruction of "religious experience" should therefore pay attention to these autobiographical frames. |
Abstract
The contribution discusses the genealogy of the concept of “religious experience” and its transformation into a category for the systematic study of religion/s from a historical perspective. As experience is necessarily subjective, the problem arises for the experiencing individual of how to know that a certain experience is “religious” – an encounter with the “divine,” or the “real.” Individuals, I argue, solve the problem by referring to similar experiences that they had earlier in life. Moreover, they emphasize that the experience can be termed religious by its post-experiential transformative effects. Accordingly, a scholarly reconstruction of “religious experience” should pay attention to these autobiographical frames.