George KaruvelilCorresponding author

Religious Experience
Reframing the Question

Article
16/1 - Spring 2011, pages 139-155
Date of online publication: 13 August 2015
Date of publication: 10 December 2020

Abstract

It is thought that Schleiermacher used religious experience as a new kind of argument to safeguard Christian faith when he was faced with the failure of traditional arguments for the existence of God. This paper argues that such a view does not do justice to the newness of his approach in constructing a propaedeutic to Christian theology. It is further argued that, irrespective of whether one agrees with what Schleiermacher was trying to do, if religious experience is to become a contemporary preambula fidei to Christian theology, the focus should be on communicating a positive experience rather than on arguing for God's existence.

Cite this article

Karuvelil, George. “Religious Experience: Reframing the Question.” Forum Philosophicum 16, no. 1 (2011): 139–55. doi:10.35765/forphil.2011.1601.09.