McQuillan, Paul (2002) Encounters beyond the pond: the limit experience of senior high school students. Alister Hardy Religious Experience Research Centre. ISBN 9780906165454
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Abstract
The purpose of this research was to ask senior students at a number of Catholic high schools the Alister Hardy question – “Have you ever been aware of or influenced by a presence or power, whether you call it God or not, which is different from your every day world?” (Hay, 1987, p. 114). The foundation of what we did was to separate the concept of religion from the experiences about which we were asking. We called them “limit” experiences. “Limit” experiences were simply every day experiences that were extended beyond the normal. They’re experiences in which I expected students would sense an ultimate limit to their horizon of existence or to their horizon of understanding. Beyond that, what we did was to be very objective and in the best traditions of Alister Hardy, scientific, in our investigations. The task was simply to collect, record and classify experiences and to contribute to the knowledge in this area by doing so. Our means of doing it was by way of a survey of Year 12 students, followed by an invitation to write and share their experiences if they so wished. In essence the purpose of the research was three-fold. First, it tried to determine the extent of recognition and reporting of limit experiences among senior high school students in some of our colleges. Next it attempted to confirm or deny five hypotheses that had been framed with particular reference to the work of Hay (1987) and also Robinson and Jackson (1987) in Britain and Flynn (1975, 1985, 1993) in Australia. Finally, the research intended to explore possible links between these limit experiences and other circumstances peculiar to these students, but in apparently unrelated areas. The results are the most fascinating part of the work. They give an interesting picture of just who these students are, in the year 2000, in Australia, in very ordinary secondary colleges along with some of the experiences to which they can attest.
| Item Type: | Book |
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| Additional Information: | Series: RERC Second Series Occasional Papers;34. |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Experience (Religion) |
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion |
| Divisions: | Alister Hardy Religious Experience Research Centre > Second Series of Occasional Papers |
| Related URLs: | |
| Depositing User: | John Dalling |
| Date Deposited: | 20 Nov 2014 15:03 |
| Last Modified: | 14 Mar 2016 15:40 |
| URI: | https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/id/eprint/444 |
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