Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T01:55:01.317Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

14 - Meaning and Social Value in Religious Experience

from Part IV - Prominent Themes and Challenges

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 June 2020

By
Mark Owen Webb
Edited by
Paul K. Moser  and
Chad Meister
Paul K. Moser
Affiliation:
Loyola University, Chicago
Chad Meister
Affiliation:
Bethel University, Indiana
Get access

Summary

Webb considers that religious experience typically occurs in the setting of a religion as a social institution, and that the subjects of such an experience typically participate in rituals and ceremonies with other people who share some of their beliefs and convictions. He proposes that this social-embedding of religious experiences is significant with regard to their being understood and evaluated, including in connection with their contribution to the meaning of human life.

Keywords

Religious experienceSocial valueMeaningSocial institutionSensory experienceQualiaRitualsCeremoniesNaturalism
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to Religious Experience , pp. 319 - 334
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alston, William. Perceiving God: The Epistemology of Religious Experience. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1991.Google Scholar
Byrne, Alex. “Inverted Qualia,” in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Winter 2018 ed. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2018/entries/qualia-inverted/.Google Scholar
Coady, Cecil Anthony John. Testimony: A Philosophical Study. New York: Clarendon Press, 1992.Google Scholar
Gregory, Richard. Intelligent Eye. New York: McGraw Hill, 1971.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hick, John. An Interpretation of Religion: Human Responses to the Transcendent, 2nd ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004.Google Scholar
Howard-Snyder, Daniel. “Who or What Is God, According to John Hick?,” Topoi 36 (2017): 571–86.Google Scholar
Jackson, Frank. “Epiphenomenal Qualia,” Philosophical Quarterly 32 (1982): 127–36.Google Scholar
James, William. The Varieties of Religious Experience. New York: New American Library, 1902/1958.Google Scholar
James, William. “The Will to Believe,” in Castell, Alburey (ed.), Essays in Pragmatism, pp. 88–109. New York: Hafner Press, 1948.Google Scholar
Lewis, Clive Staples. The Abolition of Man. London: Oxford University Press, 1943.Google Scholar
Plantinga, Alvin. Warranted Christian Belief. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sayre-McCord, Geoff. “Metaethics,” in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Summer 2014 ed. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2014/entries/metaethics/.Google Scholar
Swinburne, Richard. The Existence of God, 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.Google Scholar
Webb, Mark Owen. “Religious Experience as Doubt Resolution,” International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 18 (1985): 81–86.Google Scholar
Webb, Mark Owen. “Religious Experience,” in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Winter 2017 ed., https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2017/entries/religious-experience/.Google Scholar
Yandell, Keith. The Epistemology of Religious Experience. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×