Schmidt, Bettina E. and Stockly, Kate (2023) The Fruits of Spiritual Experiences during the Pandemic: COVID-19 and the Effects of Non-ordinary Experiences. Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society. ISSN 2364-2807
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Schmidt, B (2023) The fruits of spiritual experiences during the Pandemic.pdf - Published Version Available under License CC-BY Creative Commons Attribution. Download (535kB) | Preview |
Abstract
This paper presents new research about spiritual experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim is to discuss the impact of spiritual experiences on people’s lives and relationships. Building upon William James’ four features of the “fruits” of religious experience as a conceptual frame, the paper presents data from two surveys in which participants narrated spiritual experiences and reflected on the impacts of those experiences. We start with a short presentation of James’ ideas about the fruits of religious experience. The next section outlines four themes that have emerged from the narratives of spiritual experiences during the pandemic: impacts on people’s relationships with their religious communities, shifts in one’s subjective sense of spiritual connection and intuition, encounters with spiritual figures and near-death experiences, and interpretations of COVID-19 as a spiritual contagion. The final section broadens the discussion from the impact of specific spiritual experiences to include spiritual responses to the pandemic more generally, leading to a discussion of the experiences within the wider debate in fruits of religious experience.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | spiritual experience; non-ordinary experience; spirituality; COVID-19; spirituality and health; near-death experiences; William James |
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion |
| Divisions: | Institutes and Academies > Institute of Education and Humanities > Academic Discipline: Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Bettina Schmidt |
| Date Deposited: | 19 May 2023 09:55 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2023 10:06 |
| URI: | https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/id/eprint/2405 |
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