Abstract
Religious experience is a complex construct susceptible to various forms of influence. As religious experience is a very broad construct, this paper focuses primarily on one type of religious experience: the god image, or the way an individual experiences god. This paper focuses on two important factors contributing to the richness of religious experiences: development and diversity. Research on the god image suggests that the way a person experiences god changes over time, including gradually becoming more complex. Although the research on the god image and diversity is highly limited thus far, there is consistent evidence that various forms of diversity significantly impact the way a person experiences god. Several theories have attempted to reconcile various influences on the god image into a comprehensive, unified theory. While these theories offer advancement in the way religious experience can be understood, it seems unlikely that any such theory will ultimately be successful, particularly given that important influences on one’s religious experience appear to be highly influenced by culture.
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Notes
It should be noted that the use of the language “the god concept” and “the god image” is not intended to reflect that there is a singular unified experience. Implicit in these constructs is the assumption that they are complex, often internally inconsistent psychological constructs as experienced within the individual.
Nontheistic can be deemed preferable to atheistic or agnostic with regards to Eastern religions, given the associations that are often connected with atheism and agnosticism in the West. Nontheism, in this sense, could be understood as not giving consideration to god, whereas atheism suggests there is no god and agnosticism suggests more of a position of the reality of god being unknowable. With atheism and agnosticism, important consideration is given to god in one’s stance; however, in nontheism this is not necessarily the case.
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Hoffman, L. Religious Experience, Development, and Diversity. Pastoral Psychol 61, 1025–1035 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-011-0403-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-011-0403-2