The Varieties of Religious Experience - Penn State University

The Varieties of Religious Experiencemusic— Three conclusions— (1) Mystical states carry authorityfor him who has them— (2) But for no one else— (3) Nevertheless,they break down the exclusive authority of rationalistic states— Theystrengthen monistic and optimistic hypotheses.LECTURE XVIII PHILOSOPHY Primacy of feeling in religion,philosophy being a secondary function— Intellectualism professesto escape objective standards in her theological constructions—“Dogmatic theology”— Criticism of its account of God’s attributes—”Pragmatism” as a test of the value of conceptions— God’s metaphysicalattributes have no practical significance— His moral attributesare proved by bad arguments; collapse of systematic theology—Does transcendental idealism fare better? Its principles—Quotations from John Caird— They are good as restatements ofreligious experience, but uncoercive as reasoned proof— What philosophyCAN do for religion by transforming herself into “scienceof religions.”LECTURE XIX OTHER CHARACTERISTICS Aesthetic elementsin religion—Contrast of Catholicism and Protestantism— Sacrifice andConfession— Prayer— Religion holds that spiritual work is really effectedin prayer— Three degrees of opinion as to what is effected—First degree— Second degree— Third degree— Automatisms, theirfrequency among religious leaders— Jewish cases— Mohammed— JosephSmith— Religion and the subconscious region in general.LECTURE XX CONCLUSIONS Summary of religious characteristics—Men’s religions need not be identical— “The science ofreligions” can only suggest, not proclaims a religious creed— Is religiona “survival” of primitive thought?— Modern science rulesout the concept of personality— Anthropomorphism and belief inthe personal characterized pre-scientific thought— Personal forcesare real, in spite of this— Scientific objects are abstractions, onlyindividualized experiences are concrete— Religion holds by the concrete—Primarily religion is a biological reaction— Its simplest termsare an uneasiness and a deliverance; description of the deliverance—Question of the reality of the higher power— The author’s hypoth-8