Religious Experiencing: A Phenomenological Analysis of a Unique Behavioral Event

This article proposes a paradigm for understanding religious experience which is based on the S-O-R model of stimulus-response psychology. Religious experience is similar to other higher order experiences in that it includes organismic processing which mediates between a stimulus and a response. All...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Malony, H. Newton (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Sage Publishing 1981
In: Journal of psychology and theology
Year: 1981, Volume: 9, Issue: 4, Pages: 326-334
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Parallel Edition:Non-electronic
Description
Summary:This article proposes a paradigm for understanding religious experience which is based on the S-O-R model of stimulus-response psychology. Religious experience is similar to other higher order experiences in that it includes organismic processing which mediates between a stimulus and a response. All three components (stimulus, organism, response) are necessary for these types of experiences to occur. In religious terms, God-Faith-Work (S-O-R) go together. This paradigm is discussed in terms of the thesis that religious experience is, however, distinct from other experience in both a qualitative and a quantitative sense. The object to which the organism responds in religious experience is trans-empirical and is thus perceived to be quite different from mundane reality. This is its qualitative distinction. The attitude toward and the feelings about such a reality are more encompassing and more intense than toward other stimuli. This is its quantitative distinction. Thus, a transactional and a phenomenological understanding provide a basis for a fuller perspective on this common human experience.
ISSN:2328-1162
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of psychology and theology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/009164718100900405