"William James popularised the concept."
The subjective experience of encountering the divine or supernatural.
Definition of Religious Experience: This topic explores the various definitions of religious experience and how it is experienced by different people in different religions.
Types of Religious Experience: This topic examines the different forms of religious experience including mystical experiences, visionary experiences, and near-death experiences.
Scientific Study of Religious Experience: This topic focuses on the scientific study of religious experiences using various methods such as psychology, neuroscience, and anthropology.
Ontological and Epistemological Issues: This topic explores the fundamental philosophical issues relating to religious experiences, such as the nature of God, the existence of supernatural entities, and the reliability of religious experiences.
Religious Experience and Religious Traditions: This topic examines the relationship between religious experience and the various religious traditions such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism.
Mystical Experience: This topic explores the nature and significance of mystical experiences in various religious traditions.
Altered States of Consciousness: This topic discusses the role of altered states of consciousness in religious experiences.
Neuroscience and Religious Experience: This topic focuses on the scientific study of the neural basis of religious experiences.
Religious Experience and Ethics: This topic examines the ethical implications of religious experience, such as how it influences moral behavior and decision-making.
Transpersonal Psychology and Religious Experience: This topic explores the field of transpersonal psychology and its relation to religious experiences, such as the concept of spiritual awakening and the integration of spiritual experiences into everyday life.
Near-Death Experience: This topic discusses the phenomenon of near-death experiences and its relationship with religious beliefs.
Ecstatic Experience: This topic explores the phenomenon of ecstatic experiences, such as speaking in tongues, in various religious traditions.
Religious Experience and Healing: This topic examines the role of religious experience in the healing process, such as the use of prayer in medical contexts.
Interfaith Dialogue and Religious Experience: This topic discusses the role of religious experience in interfaith dialogue and understanding between different religions.
Challenges and Criticisms of Religious Experience: This topic explores the challenges and criticisms raised against religious experiences, such as the possibility of fraud, delusion, or mental illness.
Mystical experiences: These are experiences where an individual feels a sense of unity with God, nature or a higher power, and an intense feeling of peace, happiness or oneness. Some may experience visions or insights.
Near-death experiences (NDEs): These are experiences where people who are clinically dead, or nearly die, report experiences of leaving their physical bodies and entering a spiritual realm. They often describe feelings of peace, seeing bright lights, or being greeted by deceased loved ones.
Out-of-body experiences: These experiences occur when the person feels a separation between their physical body and their spiritual self. They report seeing their physical body from outside, as if they are watching their own body.
Spiritual possession: This is when an individual feels like they are being taken over by a supernatural force, whether that be a deity or a demon.
Religious visions: These are experiences where an individual sees a religious figure or a vision of a religious scene or symbol.
Peak experience: A peak experience is an intense experience that can be religious or non-religious. It is often described as a heightened sense of joy or awe that is beyond the normal range of human emotion.
Synchronicity: Synchronicities are meaningful coincidences that are often interpreted as being guidance from a higher power.
Religious conversions: These are experiences where an individual undergoes a profound transformation in their beliefs, often accompanied by a sudden realization or insight.
Speaking in Tongues: These are religious experiences where individuals speak in a language that they do not know or is not known to most people.
Exorcism: This is a religious experience where a person is believed to be possessed by an evil spirit and undergoes a ritual to remove the spirit from their body.
"They are considered real encounters with God or gods, or real contact with higher-order realities of which humans are not ordinarily aware."
"The concept originated in the 19th century, as a defense against the growing rationalism of Western society."
"A religious experience is a subjective experience which is interpreted within a religious framework."
"Skeptics may hold that religious experience is an evolved feature of the human brain amenable to normal scientific study."
"Many religious and mystical traditions see religious experiences (particularly the knowledge which comes with them) as revelations caused by divine agency rather than ordinary natural processes."
"In some religions, this may result in unverified personal gnosis."
"The commonalities and differences between religious experiences across different cultures have enabled scholars to categorize them for academic study."
"The commonalities and differences between religious experiences across different cultures have enabled scholars to categorize them for academic study."
"Sometimes known as a spiritual experience, sacred experience, or mystical experience."
"They are considered real encounters with God or gods, or real contact with higher-order realities of which humans are not ordinarily aware."
"A defense against the growing rationalism of Western society."
"They are considered real encounters with God or gods, or real contact with higher-order realities of which humans are not ordinarily aware."
"They are considered real encounters with God or gods, or real contact with higher-order realities of which humans are not ordinarily aware."
"They are considered real encounters with God or gods, or real contact with higher-order realities of which humans are not ordinarily aware."
"Skeptics may hold that religious experience is an evolved feature of the human brain amenable to normal scientific study."
"Many religious and mystical traditions see religious experiences (particularly the knowledge which comes with them) as revelations caused by divine agency rather than ordinary natural processes."
"The concept originated in the 19th century, as a defense against the growing rationalism of Western society."
"They are considered real encounters with God or gods or real contact with higher-order realities of which humans are not ordinarily aware."
"The commonalities and differences between religious experiences across different cultures have enabled scholars to categorize them for academic study."