Religious experience refers to a subjective encounter with a divine or transcendent reality. It can take many forms, such as visions, dreams, mystical experiences, and moments of intense emotional or intellectual engagement.
William James, in his classic work The Varieties of Religious Experience, defines religious experience as "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" (James, 1902/1985, p. 31). James identifies four characteristics of religious experience: ineffability, noetic quality, transcience, and passivity. Ineffability refers to the difficulty of expressing or communicating the experience to others using language. Noetic quality refers to the sense of knowledge or insight that accompanies religious experience, which often leads to a deeper understanding of reality. Transcience refers to the temporary and fleeting nature of the experience, which can be intense but brief. Passivity refers to the sense that the experience is not something that the individual actively seeks or controls, but rather something that happens to them.
Rudolf Otto, in his book The Idea of the Holy, argues that religious experience involves encountering a mysterious and awe-inspiring reality that is beyond our comprehension. He calls this reality the "numinous" and describes it as "a non-rational, non-sensory experience or feeling whose primary and immediate object is outside the self" (Otto, 1917/1958, p. 12). Otto identifies three elements of the numinous: mysterium, tremendum, and fascinans. Mysterium refers to the sense of mystery or incomprehensibility that surrounds the numinous. Tremendum refers to the feeling of awe and fear that the numinous can evoke in the individual. Fascinans refers to the sense of attraction or fascination that the numinous can also evoke, leading to feelings of love, joy, or peace.
Finally, Paul Tillich, in his book Dynamics of Faith, argues that religious experience is not limited to individuals but is also a communal phenomenon. He defines religious experience as "the state of being grasped by an ultimate concern, a concern which qualifies all other concerns as preliminary and which itself contains the answer to the question of the meaning of life" (Tillich, 1957, p. 11). For Tillich, religious experience is not just a personal encounter with the divine but also a participation in a larger community of faith. The ultimate concern is not an abstract idea but a concrete reality that gives meaning and purpose to life.
References:
James, W. (1985). The varieties of religious experience. Penguin.
Otto, R. (1958). The idea of the holy. Oxford University Press.
Tillich, P. (1957). Dynamics of faith. Harper & Row.