LO: I will know about the religious experiences of hearing voices

 ‘It isn’t possible to defend an argument that fails to make a distinction between “feeling that I am right” and “actually being right.” And that is because most of us at various times in our lives have had the experience of feeling certain about something and then subsequently discovering that we were completely wrong (e.g. feeling that someone is attracted to you when in fact they can’t stand the sight of you).’  Supporters respond by saying that this “certainty” is of a special kind, e.g. compulsive, ineffable etc. Kirkwood thinks this is ‘an example of language going on holiday.’

1. Revelatory – the voice reveals something about God 2. Authoritative – to those who have the experience the message communicated has God’s authority and gives instruction 3. Disembodied – the voice appears to come from no particular body

 The conversion of Augustine is an unusual example of voices.

“I was asking myself these questions, weeping all the while with the most bitter sorrow in my heart, when all at once I heard the sing-song voice of a child in a nearby house… it repeated the refrain ‘Take it and read, take it and read.’ At this I looked up, thinking hard whether there was any kind of game in which children used to chant words like these. I stemmed my flood of tears and stood up telling myself that this could only be a divine command to open my book of scripture”. Augustine, Confessions.  The voice may have been the natural voice of a child playing (even Augustine is uncertain), however Augustine interprets this to be a means of God communicating with him. This shows that religious experiences may not always be supernatural.

 Vision and voices worksheet.

 There are some problems with considering both visions and voices as religious experience. In what sense are we talking about a vision? If it is of a physical object, then why can’t it be seen by everybody every time? How can we establish that the voice/vision was from God?  There could be psychological explanations such as hallucinations; schizophrenia; even willing it as some sort of response to trauma, such as death or severe stress; or issues of interpretation. There could even be physical explanations such as vitamin deficiency.  Teresa of Avila’s response to this is that to be genuine any religious experience has to fit with the Church’s teaching, and has to leave the person feeling at peace rather than in a distressed state.

The topic so far. Tomorrow will be another reading lesson …