more from Brian Davies

Single Idea 20709

[catalogued under 28. God / B. Proving God / 3. Proofs of Evidence / d. Religious Experience]

Full Idea

A proclaimed experience of God must be rejected because a) there is no agreed test that it is such an experience, b) some people experience God's absence, and c) there is no uniformity of testimony about the experience.

Gist of Idea

The experiences of God are inconsistent, not universal, and untestable

Source

Brian Davies (Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion [1982], 7 'Objections')

Book Reference

Davies,Brian: 'An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion' [OUP 1993], p.121


A Reaction

[compressed] I'm not sure that absence of an experience is experience of an absence. Compare it with experiencing the greatness of Beethoven's Ninth.