RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE IN THE PERSPECTIVE OF SEMANTIC ANALYSIS

Summary

Religious experience is often understood through subjective inner states, but this approach risks psychologism and superficial description. Examining works by Schleiermacher, James, Otto, Wach, and Eliade reveals two methodological strategies: one treats religious experience as the inner world of an individual filled with confessional images and symbols; the other sees it as confessional awareness shaped by participation in a religious tradition. The first strategy inadequately conceptualizes religious experience, while the second offers more optimal interpretations. Future work should develop both strategies to better capture the semantic potential of religious experience.

Study at a glance

Abstract

B a c k g r o u n d . The article offers a possible solution to the issue of the semantic potential of religious experience. The need to go beyond psychologism and banal descriptiveism in the identification of religious experience is noted. M e t h o d s . The implementation of the research results is achieved through the use of hermeneutic and comparative methods. Evidence is provided of semantic analysis, which is made possible through the presentation of a retrospective dimension and systematics. R e s u l t s. Some aspects of the semantic history of religious experience are considered, which are present in the works of F. Schleiermacher, W. James, R. Otto, J. Wach and M. Eliade. F. Schleiermacher's generalization about the inner experience of a religious person initiates a research trend based on the reliance on subjectivism in its perception. In the works of W. James, R. Otto, J. Wach and M. Eliade, a semantic binarity in the identification of religious experience is asserted, which finds expression in several variants of the solution to the dilemma: subjectivization – objectivation. The thesis is substantiated, according to which in the analyzed works a hint of two conditional methodological strategies in understanding religious experience is noticeable. The first methodological strategy is based on the identification of religious experience as the semantic filling of an individual's inner world with confessionally determined images and symbols. The second methodological strategy is based on the identification of confessional awareness of individuals as they are included in the realities of a particular religious tradition. The characteristics and consequences of the implementation by researchers of each of the methodological strategies are revealed. C o n c l u s i o n s. Generalizes about inadequacy the inadequacy of conceptualizations of religious experience in the context of the actualization of the first methodological strategy and the possibility for optimal interpretations in light of the implementation of the second methodological strategy. The need to take into account the two methodological strategies mentioned above and the further development of their content is recognized as promising in identifying the semantic potential of religious experience.

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