A Palamite Perspective on Conflicting Religious Experiences
Journal of Analytic Theology October 24, 2025 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.12978/jat.2025-13.191718032024 via OpenAlex
Summary
The diversity of religious experiences, which often contradict each other, challenges the claim that they provide evidence for theism. Philosophers have proposed that this diversity can be explained by God having multiple attributes, so different experiencers encounter different aspects of God. This article examines recent formulations of this aspectival explanation and identifies a version based on Eastern Orthodox Palamite theology as particularly promising but underexplored.
Study at a glance
| Design | theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key finding | A version of the aspectival explanation for religious diversity drawing on Palamite theology is especially promising but has received little sustained attention. |
Abstract
The claim that religious experiences provide evidence for the truth of theism (or indeed for any specific doctrine) faces the objection that the contents of such experiences are so diverse (often even contradictory) as to belie any notion that they could boost the probability of theism’s truth. Philosophers have in reply put forward a variety of explanations for this diversity. One model suggests that at least some of the apparent conflict can be resolved when one takes into account the fact that God may have diverse attributes or aspects; thus, perhaps some experiencers encounter God qua manifested in one attribute, and others encounter Him in another. After surveying recent formulations of this aspectival explanation, I single out a particular version as especially promising, though it has heretofore received little in the way of sustained attention: namely, a version drawing on the Palamite theology of the Eastern Orthodox Church.