Mystical Experience and Religious Doctrine: An Investigation of the Study of Mysticism in World Religions

208 Pages·1982·15.812 MB·English

by  Philip C. Almond

Mystical Experience and Religions Doctrine
I? I?
Religion and Reason 26
Method and Theory in the
Study and Interpretation of Religion
GENERALEDITOR
Jacques Waardenburg, University of Utrecht
BOARD OF ADVISERS
Th. P. van Baaaren, Groningen
R. Ν. Bellah, Berkeley
U. Bianchi, Rome
H. J. W. Drijvers, Groningen
W. Dupré, Nijmegen
S. N. Eisenstadt, Jerusalem
M. Eliade, Chicago
C. Geertz, Princeton
K. Goldammer, Marburg
P. Ricoeur, Paris and Chicago
M. Rodinson, Paris
N. Smart, Lancaster and
Santa Barbara, Calif.
G. Widengren, Stockholm
MOUTON PUBLISHERS BERLIN NEW YORK AMSTERDAM
Mystical Experience
and Religious Doctrine
An Investigation of the Study of
Mysticism in World Religions
PHILIP C. ALMOND
Universität of Queensland
MOUTON PUBLISHERS · BERLIN · NEW YORK · AMSTERDAM
ISBN 90 279 3160 7
© Copyright 1982 by Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin. All rights reserved, including those
of translation into foreign languages. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form
- by photoprint, microfilm, or any other means - nor transmitted nor translated into a ma-
chine language without permission from the publishers.
Printing: Druckerei Hildebrand, Berlin. - Binding: Lilderitz & Bauer Buchgewerbe
GmbH, Berlin. Printed in Germany.
To Brenda

Preface
This book is intended as a contribution to the discussion of the
problem of the relationship between mystical experience and the
doctrines of the major world religions. Its general aim is to exam-
ine the most important accounts of this relationship offered in
the English language during the past twenty or so years. The
significance of these accounts lies in the fact that they attempt to
resolve the problem of the incompatibility between religious doc-
trines by appeal to religious experience in general and mystical
experience in particular; the philosophical evaluation of the truth
of religious doctrines takes place within the context of the descrip-
tion and classification of various types of religious experience.
The first specific aim of this study is then to demonstrate that
various views of the relationship between the doctrines of the
major world religions depend upon the nature of the respective
descriptions and classifications of mystical experience in particu-
lar. Thus, the question of the relationship between religious doc-
trines devolves upon the problem of the appropriate method by
means of which mystical experiences can be described and
classified. And consequently, the second specific aim of this study
is to establish a theoretically cogent conceptual framework for the
description and classification of mystical experiences. In the light
of this we may hope to arrive at a clearer appreciation of the
relationship between mystical experience and doctrinal formu-
lation, and provide a further impetus to the study of mysticism
in world religions.
Although the substance of my argument differs from that of
Professor Ninian Smart, my indebtedness to his thought and writ-
ings is evident throughout. My gratitude is also due to Mr. John
Gill of the University of Adelaide; I have profited enormously
from his encouragement and advice. My thanks are due too to Dr.
Michael Bradley and Dunstan McKee S.S.M. for reading and
viii Preface
commenting upon earlier drafts of the manuscript; and to Pro-
fessor James Home and Dr. Harold Turner who corresponded
with me on a number of issues relevant to the concerns of this
volume. My colleagues Dr. Barry Reay and Mr. Gunther Kress
have helped me to iron out a number of stylistic inadequacies.
Finally, I wish to express my appreciation to Dr. J. D. J.
Waardenburg for a number of most important and helpful edi-
torial suggestions. This book is dedicated to my wife in gratitude
for her having lived not only with me but also with this study.
Contents
Preface vii
Introduction 1
PART ONE: MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE AND ITS
INTERPRETATION: SOME CURRENT THEORIES
1. The Thesis of the Unity of all Religions: The Theory of
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan 11
2. The Varieties of Mystical Experience: The Theory of R. C.
Zaehner 23
3. The Mystical, the Numinous, and Religious Traditions: The
Theory of Ninian Smart 43
4. Extrovertive and Introvertive Mysticism: The Theory of
W. T. Stace 69
5. The Mystical, the Numinous, and Metaphysics: The Theory
of Rudolf Otto 92
6. A Comparative Analysis 120
PART TWO: TOWARDS A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
FOR THE STUDY OF MYSTICISM
7. Mystical Experience and its Interpretation: An Analysis of
Possible Models 127
8. The Varieties of Mystical Experience: A Philosophical
Prolegomenon 157
9. Conclusion 181
Notes 187
References 193