The Epistemology of Religious Experience

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.

• Addresses fundamental issue in philosophy of religion – whether religious experience provides evidence for religious belief • Will appeal to both philosophers of religion and theologians

Introduction: is our task impossible or impolite?; Part I. The Experimental Data: 1. Religious experience, ‘East’ and ‘West’; Some basic epistemological concepts; Part II. The Challenge from Ineffability: 3. The outlines of ineffability; ineffability relative to particular languages; 5. Reasons in ineffability’s favour; Part III. The Social Science Challenge: 6. Nonepistemic explanation of belief; 7. Non-religious explanation of religious belief; Part IV. The Religious Challenge: 8. Self-authentication and verification; 9. Religious practices and experimential confirmation; Part V. The Argument from Religious Experience: 10. The argument in twentieth-century philosophy; 11. The principle of experimential evidence; 12. The argument triumphant; Part VI. Enlightenment and Conceptual Experience: 13. Are enlightenment experiences evidence for religious beliefs? 14. Conceptual experience and religious belief.

‘Yandell’s main premise is that religious beliefs and doctrines are not exempt from critical examination by analytical philosopher; rather, they should receive the same degree of critical examination which secular beliefs and doctrines attract. The intricate thread of his argument testifies to the validity of this core premise … deserves to be read by anyone interested in the analysis of religious experience.’

– Victoria S. Harrison, Heythrop Journal