How Should We Think About Spiritual Experiences? (#192)

Joining me today is Dale C. Allison Jr., Professor of New Testament (Princeton Theological Seminary), to discuss his book "Encountering Mystery: Religious Experience in a Secular Age." We cover materialism, empiricism, and the prevalence of mystical, spiritual, and/or “unitive” experiences. Dale says that “people's experiences are stranger and weirder, more mystical and terrible than we usually think.” I agree with him that we need to take such experiences seriously, and Dale and I both speak about some of our own. I am less convinced than he is, however, that most of these experiences are veridical, that is, that they point us to accurate truth claims (I’ll be discussing this issue more in the months to come).

Dale’s Faculty Page: 

https://www.ptsem.edu/people/dale-c-allison-jr

Dale’s Book “Encountering Mystery: Religious Experience in a Secular Age:

https://www.amazon.com/Encountering-Mystery-Religious-Experience-Secular/dp/0802881882/ref=sr_1_1?crid=GFLY57GB8MWZ&keywords=Encountering+Mystery+dale+allison&qid=1685479203&s=books&sprefix=encountering+mystery+dale+allison%2Cstripbooks%2C101&sr=1-1

Dale’s Book “The Historical Christ and the Theological Jesus”: 

https://www.amazon.com/Historical-Christ-Theological-Jesus/dp/0802862624

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Edited by Josh Gilbert ([email protected] -- he is accepting more work!)

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