Can experience be properly categorized in the academic study of religion? Can an experience’s significance be determinate and/or meaning derived? Fundamentally speaking, what is the definition of religious experience? These supporting cast members serve to support the overarching question: how does and/or can one properly study the concept of religious experience? This paper comprises conversations from two persons engaged in this fundamental concern, Robert Sharf1 and Matthew Kapstein, about the study of religious experience. Sharf argues that religious experiences are personal inner-focused, non-discursive and/or non-conceptual mystical experiences that point not to a distinctly numinous inner world but rather point to themselves. (Sharf, 114.) As such, these experiences should be relegated to the domain of the ineffable. Phenomenologically, religious experiences are subjective mental events taking place in the intangible substrate of the human mind which elude the opportunity for public scrutiny. (Sharf, 104.) He is skeptical of one’s capacity to study that which is ineffable and derive signification from that which cannot be categorized or presented in discourse. Kapstein refutes this claim by using an aesthetic analogy of the “beauty of music” to explain that, “our aesthetic responses are not merely subjective [but] they are intersubjective.” (Kapstein, 273.) Communication amongst and apprehension by others are valued properties of religious experiences. From this there is a shared language amongst those participants and the purely subjective perspective is abandoned. Interestingly, this intersubjectivity is individualized (or rather personalized) within particular cultures in the microscopic perspective, while synonymous... ... middle of paper ... ...ity, is not the experience then effable? Perhaps one could claim that Augustine’s experience lies in the realm of the unique and stands as an exception to the religiously mystic experience. I ascertain this religious experience can be properly categorized, studied, and value extracted from its text - in others words, yes, it can be (and has been for over 1600 years) brought to the academic table for study. Works Cited Kapstein, Matthew. The Presence of Light : Divine Radiance and Religious Experience. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. “Experience.” In Critical Terms for Religious Studies. The University of Chicago Press, 1998. http://proxy.uchicago.edu/login?url=http://www.credoreference.com/entry/uchicagors/experience. Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo., and Henry Chadwick. Confessions. Oxford World’s Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
St. Augustine considers his mother as a crucial factor in his conversion to Catholicism. However through the analysis of his Confessions it leads me to believe that St. Augustine’s mother was not a decisive figure. Monica was in the background keeping him in thought and prayer however Augustine’s watershed moments came as a result of his own examination of readings as well as his conversations with his friends and mentors. Therefore I argue that Monica had delayed Augustine’s baptism and it was his own experiences that allowed him to come to God.
Unlike other texts of the time, Augustine’s confessions are less of an epic tale or instructive texts, both of which soug...
Peterson, Michael - Hasker, Reichenbach and Basinger. Philosophy of Religion - Selected Readings, Fourth Edition. 2010. Oxford University Press, NY.
Augustine of Hippo was an early Christian philosopher who was born in what is now modern day Algeria and his writings have been a great influence on the development of Western Christianity. He was a bishop in the Hippo Regius of Roman Africa during the Patristic Era and is viewed as one of the most important Church Fathers of the West (Mendelson). In his famous writing “Confessions”, Augustine recounts the first 35 years of his life and tracks his spiritual development and acceptance of Christianity. Books 1-9 are autobiographical, while Books 10-13 are analytical and interpretational of his faith. Book 10 of his confessions explores memory while 11 through 13 are his detailed interpretations of Genesis, in which the creation of the world is explained.
In the books of the Confessions, Augustine praises God and confesses his sins while telling the story of his journey. The first half of the Confessions describe his journey away from himself, which include giving into his personal pleasure. The fifth book is when he has a revelation, and the rest of the Confessions gives the account of the process of getting back to himself, or being fully human. It is a path that took a large part of his life, but it in the end, he accepts his vocation of “being”.
Otto, Rudolf. The Idea of the Holy. Trans. John W. Harvey. New York: Oxford UP, 1958. Print.
Smith, Andrew. "Chapter Nine: Life After Death." 2014. A Secular View of God. 12 May 2014 .
This paper will outline specific points in Saint Augustine’s Confessions that highlight religious views following the fall of Rome. Though Augustines views on religion may not reflect that of most people in his time period, it still gives valuable insight into how many, namely Neoplatonists,, viewed God and his teachings.
Surprised by Joy by Lewis and Confessions by Augustine are not two works that are often analyzed side by side. A preliminary glance may lead the reader to think that they are very similar works, despite the differences in publishing time, Surprised By Joy was published in 1955, while Confessions was published in 398 AD. This is not entirely false, as both works are autobiographical and written by men greatly influential to the Christian faith. Both Lewis and Augustine use similar structural methods and literary devices to document their journey toward understanding the character of God, however, the assumptions Lewis and Augustine come to are often very different. This paper will specifically analyze Augustine and Lewis’ perception of joy and its relationship to God as seen in Augustine’ section “Happiness (Beatta Vita)” and Lewis’ chapters “Checkmate” and “Beginning” in order to argue that while Augustine and Lewis’ process of understanding joy seem very similar, the implications this understanding had on their individual lives was contradictory.
Augustine. “Confessions”. The Norton Anthology of Western Literature. 8th ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006. 1113-41. Print.
Eastman, Roger. The Ways of Religion: An Introduction to the Major Traditions. Third Edition. Oxford University Press. N.Y. 1999
For Carl Jung, his view on religious experience was based on all experiences being a psychological phenomenon. He differed from James in his view that a personal or individual experience with a God was indistinguishable from a communication with one’s unconscious mind. He ...
Durkheim, Emile. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. Print.
Each story he chooses to recount has a philosophical or theological aspect being told. Still enjoying his youthful years, Augustine has a passion for the philosophical truth. Throughout his multiple readings of doctrines, one had a particular affect on him – Neo Platonism. Augustine incorporates his learning’s from Neo Platonism into his Christian theology. Confessions is not only an autobiography, but also a fusion of his ideas and newfound faith in religion.
THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR THE PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION. (2009). Journal of Psychology and Theology, 37(1), 72. Retrieved April 21, 2009, from ProQuest Religion database. (Document ID: 1675034711).