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An Introduction to Religious and Spiritual Experience Paperback – February 10, 2009

by Marianne Rankin (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 3 ratings
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This comprehensive new introduction looks at spiritual experiences from past to present, from the experiences of the founders of the major world religious traditions to events in the lives of ordinary people today. Mystical and Near Death Experiences are included. Examples are drawn from a variety of sources, including original accounts from the Alister Hardy Religious Experience Research Centre Archive at the University of Wales, Lampeter as well as many given to the author in person.

Interpretations of these experiences follow, from religious, philosophical and scientific viewpoints. Various questions are considered. Is there a common core to spiritual experience? Do these experiences offer proof of the existence of God or of the possibility of survival of death?

This fascinating work concludes with an evaluation of what can be learned about consciousness, religion and what it is to be human.
This comprehensive new introduction looks at spiritual experiences from past to present, from the experiences of the founders of the major world religious traditions to events in the lives of ordinary people today. Mystical and Near Death Experiences are included. Examples are drawn from a variety of sources, including original accounts from the Alister Hardy Religious Experience Research Centre Archive at the University of Wales, Lampeter as well as many given to the author in person.

Interpretations of these experiences follow, from religious, philosophical and scientific viewpoints. Various questions are considered. Is there a common core to spiritual experience? Do these experiences offer proof of the existence of God or of the possibility of survival of death?

This fascinating work concludes with an evaluation of what can be learned about consciousness, religion and what it is to be human.

Previous page
  1. Print length
    304 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Continuum
  4. Publication date
    February 10, 2009
  5. Dimensions
    7 x 0.64 x 10 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0826498213
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0826498212
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A remarkably comprehensive global survey of types of religious and spiritual experience, which provides invaluable source-material for all who are concerned with a spiritual view of life . . . fascinating in its range and lucidity of expression." - Professor Keith Ward, Regius Professor of Divinity Emeritus, University of Oxford, Fellow of the British Academy and Professor of Divinity at Gresham College, London, UK.

"Marianne Rankin's book on religious and spiritual experience is so comprehensive as almost to merit the adjective, 'encyclopedic'. She has done an amazing amount of research on the subject. Her organization of materials gathered is logical, and each concise entry invites the reader to enter the experience itself. I found them not simply moving, but persuasive in their authenticity. Something very powerful has happened to the persons cited. William James, writing his Varieties over a century ago, would be proud that he has found so worthy a successor in this research." - Hal French, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Religious Studies, University of South Carolina, USA.

"This book does exactly what it says. It provides a brilliant introduction to life-changing experiences which have profoundly influenced the shape of human religiosity and spirituality. Marianne Rankin has done her research well and gathered a mass of data from across the world's religions and across human history. The value of the book is that she lets the data speak for itself. It is a brilliant anthology both of the experiences themselves, of the interpretations given to them, and of the impact they have had on human lives. It is also a jolly good read!" - Professor Paul Badham, Director of the Alister Hardy Religious Experience Research Centre, University of Wales Lampeter, UK.

"This is a clearly written text ... covering a wide range of material relevant to the study of spiritual and religious experiences in a way that should be useful for teachers and students alike and provides further references for those general readers who wish to extend their study" - Peggy Morgan, Mansfield College and Faculty of Theology, University of Oxford, UK.

"This is an excellent, comprehensive handbook for all who are concerned with its subject matter. Marianne Rankin provides an extremely wide range of source material to define her terms, to illustrate the variety of such experience and to present a typology of them." The Christian Parapsychologist, 2009

'This well-organised and highly accessible book is replete with examples of experiences from within and outside of religious traditions, sympathetically arranged and analysed by a writer at the chalk-face of enquiry into personal religious and spiritual experience...This book is perfect for A level students and teachers inasmuch as it charts experiences from a range of the world's religions, whilst at the same time asking critical and philosophical questions, thus facilitating synoptic-type study. It also provides a wide range of easily quotable scholarly views from across the spectrum of debate about religious experience, thus supporting students in evaluation-type writing...For A level students, or anyone, wanting to grasp the significance of religious and spiritual experience, and to understand how it is researched, this book would repay careful study.' Wendy Dossett, University of Wales, Lampeter, UK

A review by David Lorimer entitled A Deeper Connection A book of unusual scope, providing a kaleidoscope of material and an eclectic range of sources.

About the Author

Marianne Rankin is former Chair of the Alister Hardy Society, affiliated to the Religious Experience Research Centre, University of Wales, Lampeter, UK.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Continuum (February 10, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0826498213
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0826498212
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.26 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 0.64 x 10 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 3 ratings

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Marianne Rankin

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4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
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Top review from the United States

Dr. H. A. Jones
4.0 out of 5 stars A survey of numinous experiences
Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2012
An Introduction to Religious and Spiritual Experience by Marianne Rankin, Continuum, London, 2008, 304 ff.

Marianne Rankin is the former Chair of the Alister Hardy Society (2002-8), which is affiliated to the Religious Experience Research Centre, and is located at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David at Lampeter in Wales. The RERC was set up in 1969 at Oxford University by marine biologist Sir Alister Hardy F.R.S. but is now at Lampeter.

Marianne's book is not about religion itself, its beliefs and practices, but is rather an exploration of what it means to individuals to have various kinds of numinous experience. She begins by distinguishing between these different kinds of experience: religious, spiritual, mystical, transcendental, OBEs, NDEs, and other less well defined types of experience that cannot readily be described in physiological terms yet lead to a change in the psychological state of the individual. These experiences provide an important counter to those who argue that the material world is all there is.

There is usually one particular figurehead who is regarded as `founder' of a religion but the author makes the point that the founder is really the Divine, in whatever form this is envisaged. She suggests a better term for the initiator of a new faith would be `mediator' or `messenger' of the divine inspiration. Rankin perceptively explores the origins and transmission of these messages, some of which are now regarded as scripture, but also discusses how this relationship with the numinous affects ordinary people. The discussion embraces religions of the East (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Taoism, Confucianism, Sikhism) as well as the more familiar western faiths (Judaism, Christianity, Islam). There are fascinating accounts of several less well-known religions or those with fewer followers, like Baha'i, Quakers, Mormons, Scientology, Christian Science, Theosophy, Unitarianism and even what modern thinkers like Fritjof Capra, Eckhart Tolle and Neale Donald Walsch have to tell us.

The spiritual energy associated with sacred places has always fascinated me since I was a boy: Marianne covers this too, though only briefly. A rationalist would probably dismiss this as `imagination', but I have always felt a sense of emotional uplift at such places, of which there are several in my homeland of Wales.

This is a clear, well researched and wide-ranging account of the significance of kinds of numinous experience, focussing on those associated with religious faith. It is at one and the same time a resource book of religious experience for students of the subject but also a highly readable account for those seeking a meaningful spirituality in their lives. I'm sure many readers will resonate with some of the experiences described in this book.

A deeper understanding of the nature of spirituality that this book provides should help us achieve a less materialistic and more cohesive and tolerant society. For those with an open mind it should also lessen the fear of mortal death. The many accounts taken from the archives of the RERC provide testimony of how such spiritual experiences have provided personal life-changing evidence of a cosmic spiritual energy that scientists are increasingly affirming.

There are extensive Notes and Bibliography at the end of the book with a detailed Index. Despite its wide coverage, this book is easy to read and is a worthy successor to `The Varieties of Religious Experience' by William James and `The Spiritual Nature of Man' by Alister Hardy.

 The varieties of religious experience: a study in human nature : being the Gifford lectures on natural religion delivered at Edinburgh in 1901-1902
The Spiritual Nature of Man: A Study of Contemporary Religious Experience
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Top reviews from other countries

Sabi
4.0 out of 5 stars A good starting place
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 28, 2016
Verified Purchase
A thorough and helpful introduction to the subject, with much reference to the interesting and little known archives of the Alister Hardy foundation at Lampeter in Wales.
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