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Religious Experience – The key features according of conversion and
prayerBy the end of this lesson
you will have:
• Revised what you know so far on
mysticism, N.D.E and Philosophy of Religion
• Been introduced to the key concepts of
conversion and prayer
Concept Map
• Complete your concept map to revise what we have studied so far
Conversion
• Denotes the changing from one set of beliefs to another.
• There are several features
• It is often seen as a ‘regeneration of truth’
Conversion – Edwin Starbuck
• Ordinary or ‘non-religious’ versions of conversions are very similar to religious ones
• Happens only with young adults (14-19)
• They will feel incomplete, imperfect, brooding, depressed, introspective and anxious
• When they convert to adulthood, they will feel ‘a happy relief’ and objectivity
Conversion – Edwin Starbuck
• Starbuck suggests that a religious conversion of an adolescent to an evangelical religion will have very similar feelings
• He sees it as a process of struggling away from sin rather than striving towards righteousness
• He argues that man must ‘stop trying’ to change for a conversion to occur naturally
Conversion – William James
• James believes that it is only certain people who will ever be able to have a specifically religious conversion
• These people will have to be open to religious ideas
Two features of conversion
• A conscious and voluntary experience – the volitional type
• An involuntary and unconscious experience –the self surrender type
Two features of conversion
• A conscious and voluntary experience – the volitional type:
• The features of this type is a gradual change
• A slow development of new moral and spiritual habits
• It may be that on one day the person ‘suddenly feels aware’ of how they have changed
Two features of conversion
• An involuntary and unconscious experience –the self surrender type:
• These represent the subconscious effects
• Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity
• One’s conversion must be left to ‘other forces’
TASK
• Watch this video of St Paul’s conversion. Write on your sheet where you see they key features according to the scholars we have just studied.
• St Paul’s conversion
Prayer
• In the wise sense this means every kind of inward communion or conversation with the power recognised as Divine.
• There are many different types of prayer; blessing, adoration, petition, asking forgiveness, intercession, thanksgiving, praise
Prayer
• People often see prayer as the very essence of religion
• It is often prayer which distinguishes the religious phenomenon from other phenomenon
• It is the conviction that something is genuinely transacted
• We learn things from prayer which can’t be learnt in any other way
Prayer – William James
• James used the example of George Muller of Bristol (19th cent)
• Muller ran orphanages and schools
• He lived by prayer and believing what God provides
• He believed that prayer kept the orphanages alive
• So a key feature of prayer, was that they were answered
Example of Prayer
• Speaking in tongues in Pentecostal churches
• Known as Glossolalia
• The features of this are:
• That people will speak in a holy language unknown to them
• They will feel filled with the Holy Spirit
• People will feel better after they have spoken in this way
TASK
• Write down all the ways in which speaking in tongues may seem religious to some but then may have an alternative explanation to others