The Epistemology of Religious Experience

by Keith E. Yandell

Book Overview

This book addresses fundamental questions in the philosophy of religion. Can religious experience provide evidence for religious belief? If so, how? Keith Yandell argues against the notion that religious experience is ineffable, while advocating the view that strong numinous experience provides some evidence that God exists. He contends that social science and other non-religious explanations of religious belief and experience do not cancel out the evidential force of religious experience. The core of Yandell's argument concerns the formulation and application of an appropriate principle of experimental evidence. A final chapter considers the relevance of nonexperimental, conceptual issues. An attractive feature of the book is that it does not confine its attention to any one religious cultural tradition, but tracks the nature of religious experience across different traditions in both the East and the West.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521477417
• ISBN13: 9780521477413
• Release Date: November 1994
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Surprisingly fun and readable

You wouldn't expect a book with this title to be readable and engaging, but it is. I was looking for books to assign in a first-year college course, an introduction to religious studies. I wanted something that would present the basic problems and issues in the study of religion, but would also substantiate the abstract concepts with examples from different world religious traditions--a cross-cultural dimension, in other words. Using the analytic approach of epistemology--the branch of philosophy that asks, "How do we know anything?"--the author explores the question, "Does religious experience provide evidence for religious belief?" This raises the irresistably fascinating question: does religious experience prove the existence of God? The cross-cultural material is a major plus. At the outset the author presents a typology of Eastern and Western religious experiences with some highfalutin' terms--Nirvanic, Kevalic, Moksha--but he immediately illustrates the types with substantive examples from various sacred Scriptures. Although the narrative occasionally bogs down in formal logical propositions, the simple, punchy sentences--"if this is true, then is X false?"--mostly make the questions clearer and more compelling. At times I actually felt like I was reading a good detective story. This volume may be a bit too intimidating for freshpersons because of its length and heavy use of logical propositions, but I wouldn't hestitate to assign it in an upper-level course. I found this to be surprisingly accessible, clearly written, and fun to read! But then I'm a theology buff and I like books about the perceived clash between science & religion.