Researchers Involved: Rachel Kevern
Emily BurdettSummary:
The aim of this project is to explore the relationship between mystical experiences of divine realities and the experience of the body as represented in a selection of late 20th and early 21st century accounts of religious and spiritual experience (RSEs).
The resource I will use for this is a database created at the Alister Hardy Religious Experience Research Centre (RERC) that contains 6,000+ first-hand accounts of RSEs. I will conduct this research using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) of a small sample of these accounts, exact number to be determined.
The need for this project is twofold. First, the study of the cognition and interpretation of mystical experience in the field of Christian mystical theology has, in the last 30-40 years, been significantly reduced as the field is now dominated by a contextual theoretical framework which focuses on analysis of texts rather than on the experiences the mystics were recounting. Situating this project most squarely within a perennialist framework of interpreting mysticism, which centralises experience, will help reintegrate the study of the psychology of mystical experience into the field of Christian mystical theology. Second, in recent years, some mystical theologians have noted two distinct attitudes among scholars of mysticism that relate to the body: the body is to be transcended or it is to be embraced. Working with the intersection between mystical theology and the psychological framework of embodied cognition will shed valuable light on this debate.
Being an empirical analysis of a psychological phenomenon, brought into conversation with the discipline of mystical theology, this project fits the wider theme of the fellowship programme that seeks to develop science-engaged theology.
Project activities include:
This research will have a direct impact on the discipline of mystical theology by centralising once again the mystical experiences themselves and shedding light on the ongoing debate about mysticism as an embodied experience. It may also impact the world of ecumenical theological education by contributing to the possibility of curriculum change to include psychological approaches to RSEs.
Join our innovative exploration at the nexus of psychology and theology. Our project aims to enrich theological research with the latest psychological insights, offering a unique opportunity for scholars to deepen their understanding of human nature and ethics.