REL 204 00 Essay 2-Ishrat Jahan PDF

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Ishrat Jahan REL 20400- Religious Experience 6/20/20 Professor Foote Schleiermacher, Otto & James The concept of religion has been heavily debated throughout history. Although many people may practice one religion and follow its general core aspects, the emphasis they put on different practices, what the purpose behind it is, and more, creates a unique experience for each member. How one views religion impacts their perception of God, self, other, and morality. Friedrich Schleiermacher and Rudolf Otto, both German theologians and philosophers, describe the lens through which they regard religion in On Religion: Speeches to its Cultured Despisers and The Idea of the Holy. Both agree that religious experience is the driving emotion behind all religion and must be interpreted through feeling. As Otto was largely influenced by Schleiermacher he holds similar beliefs and they share a common understanding. However, William James, an American philosopher and psychologist, took a different approach in his book The Varieties of Religious Experience. In contrast to the previous two, James discusses religious experience from a perspective excluding theology. To James one's personal experience is the core of religion and not doctrine. A concept that isn't as broad as the other two philosophers. Unlike Schleiermacher and Otto, he believed religious experiences are not based specifically on God, but on and isolating experiences with anything divine. There are other minute details that they disagree on and discuss despite their general consensus on the importance of religious experience.

Schleiermacher had worked on his speeches On Religion in an attempt to explain and defend the ideology from the criticism of Enlightenment skeptics. He dubbed them “its cultured despisers.” He stated, “Man is born with religious capacity, but a sense for the profoundest depths of his own nature is crushed out by the rage for calculating and explaining” (130) With the Age of Reason, some denounced traditional doctrines and went through great lengths to question and rationalize religion. There was a greater emphasis on the appreciation of science and art rather than religion that is often shrouded in mystery and a bit of unconditional belief. In Schleiermacher’s second speech, The Nature of Religion, it argues that rather than regard religion and science as completely different subjects, we should view them as unified. Science cannot exist without religion and vice versa. They are both needed to understand the other. In this speech he attempts to convince the disillusioned enlightened audience that instead of abandoning religion we should forge a new relationship between it and philosophy, science, and art. He furthers his argument by placing less emphasis on rules in religion that individuals may think are arbitrary and excessive. “The sacred writings were not for perfect believers alone, but rather... for novices, for those...standing at the entrance and would be invited in, and how could they go to work except as I am now doing with you?” (81) In this, Schleiermacher minimizes the importance of rules that enlightened thinkers may be cautious of. This is just a minor aspect or basic foundation of religion. Religious experience is a much more important and accepting aspect of religion. These guidelines are just a nudge in the right direction but they are focused on much more than they should be . Rather, “Religion is for you at one time a way of thinking, a faith, a peculiar way of contemplating the world.” He also goes on to state, “Religion alone gives universality to man.” In this he means that religion provides an understanding of the world to those who hold a belief in it. A truly spiritual

and ethical individual must comprehend how life is interconnected. There lies a connection even between the smallest specimen to the largest, an atom to a hurricane, and one person to another. This emotion and idea is a form of religious experience and provides a deeper wisdom beyond the laws of religion. Additionally, both religion and science are connected since they both have a place for the infinite. “True religion is sense and taste for the infinite.” (39) They both strive to explain the intricacies of the world and the true purpose of life. Thus, one can be religious and immoral by only following the doctrine meaninglessly, but not moral and scientific while rejecting religion since science and ethics further support the notion of religion. This is why according to him; religion is necessary in science. Rudolph Otto is greatly inspired by Schleiermacher and thus has similar beliefs to him. He states, “"The numinous is thus felt as objective and outside the self."(122) To Otto the numinous refers to the experience of a mysterious terror and awe or a religious experience. In his statement he implies similarly to Schleiermacher that a religious experience can exist by itself without any other rational explanation. Although science, philosophy, etc. is supported by religion, religion doesn't need science. Attempting to rationalize such an experience is impossible since it is entirely unique. Rationalism would lead to denying miracles and holy acts. He, like Schleiermacher, challenges critics by explaining that miracles aren’t always these extravagant moments of absurd events. Instead, merely living can be considered a miracle. The simple act of just catching your train on time can be considered a miracle. He also explains how our definition and expectation of what is holy is warped as holy doesn’t necessarily mean all that is good, and sacred in religion. Rudolf clarifies that the word itself can be defined in both good and bad terms as it relates to the supernatural as a whole rather than the morality we attach to it. He does this by making a distinction between numinous feelings about the Holy and other emotional

experiences. Although the rational concept of holiness is usually mistaken for moral goodness, the reality of holiness includes more ineffable aspects. Despite these similarities, one difference Otto and Schleiermacher had was their viewpoint on other religions. Schleiermacher tends to display a perception of Christianity’s superiority as a religion. However, Otto differs and doesn’t necessarily believe that Christianity is an evolution from these supposedly primitive religions. William James almost completely deviates away from theology in his writing and instead focuses more on a psychological viewpoint of the religious experience. He differs in that his view of religious experience isn’t as large as the other philosophers. Instead, it is a bit isolated and personal. His perception of religion is, “the feelings, acts, and experience of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they consider to be divine”.(181) This view isn’t subject to a divine being but any form of divinity really. He further clarifies by saying, “Religion, therefore, as I now ask you arbitrarily to take it, shall mean for us the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine.” Schleiermacher and Otto’s version of religion speak in depth and involve people’s relationships with the infinite and how everything is connected. His form of religion is much more personal. James also discusses conversion in his discussion. Something that the other two writings did not mention in their viewpoint of religious experience. Additionally, he had stated, “The time for tension in our soul is over, and that of happy relaxation, of calm deep breathing, of an eternal present, with no discordant future to be anxious about, has arrived. Fear is not held in abeyance..., it is...washed away.”( 47) James

regarded the religious experience as calming and a quiet emotion. However, Otto disagrees and seems to believe more of the numinous experience as mysterious, awesome, and urgent. The very emotion in which a religious experience occurs contrasts. However, James did agree and share a fear of over rationalizing religion with Schleiermacher and Otto. He states, “There are trifling, sneering attitudes even toward the whole of life.” (36) This mirrors what Schleiermacher was trying to address in his speeches, individuals who have a “ rage for calculating and explaining”. Those who may believe that science, art, philosophy, etc are above religion because they require a certain amount of unconditional belief to understand and explain. James discusses widespread acts of everyday mysticism that can be considered a religious experience similarly to how Otto had addressed the widespread miracles we encounter every day to dispel disbelief in religious experience. “A more pronounced step forward on the mystical ladder is found in an extremely frequent phenomenon, that sudden feeling, namely, which sometimes sweeps over us, of having “been here before,” as if at some indefinite past time, in just this place, with just these people, we were already saying just these things.” This quote describes how something as simple and prevalent as deja vu can be considered mysticism. James further explains how in India, training in mystical insight can be found through yoga. There are various forms of such in Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, and other religions. Prior to this revelation, one may not consider these as such because they seem to be average everyday occurrences. James explains through the lens of psychology that consciousness of the cosmos that deja vu and yoga create, provides "intellectual enlightenment" putting a person on "a new plane of existence". This creates an emotion of peace and joy that he previously mentioned was religious experience.

In conclusion, Schleiermacher, Otto & James hold related views on religious experience. They share a fear of rationalism overtaking religious experience and how it falls beyond the realm of tangible understanding as it is an elusive emotion. However, the way in which they described religious experiences, how to reach a religious experience, and the logic they use to defend their stance greatly differs throughout their writing.

Work’s Cited

Schleiermacher, Friedrich Daniel Ernst. ON RELIGION: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers. spiritual-minds.com/religion/philosophy/Schleiermacher%20-%20Speeches%20On %20Religion.pdf. Turner, Harold W., et al. Rudolf Otto, the Idea of the Holy: Commentary on a Shortened Version. Aberdeen Peoples Press, 1979. James, William. The Varieties of Religious Experience: a Study in Human Nature. Snova, 2019....