{"id":8258,"date":"2014-06-30T12:24:08","date_gmt":"2014-06-30T17:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=8258"},"modified":"2024-07-02T14:39:43","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T14:39:43","slug":"experienceproject","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=8258","title":{"rendered":"UNC, Notre Dame philosophers examine religious and transformative experiences"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"UNC<\/a>
UNC philosopher Laurie “L.A.” Paul<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Whether as dramatic as the divine visions that inspired Mother Teresa\u2019s work or as commonplace as the decision to have a child, certain events have the power to transform us.<\/p>\n

To explore aspects of these religious and transformative experiences, philosopher L.A. Paul from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill\u2019s College of Arts and Sciences and philosophers Michael Rea<\/a> and Samuel Newlands<\/a> of the University of Notre Dame\u2019s College of Arts and Letters will co-direct \u201cThe Experience Project.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a generous grant from the John Templeton Foundation<\/a>, the project will examine questions such as: When and why do people have experiences that transform them? What effects do specific transformative experiences have on a person\u2019s identity, values, beliefs or behaviors? How might a religious experience affect a person\u2019s concept of God? How are religious transformative experiences different from other sorts of transformative experiences?<\/p>\n

The $4.8 million project encompasses four major research initiatives. The first seeks to support scholars in philosophy, theology and religious studies who will explore various aspects of religious experiences. The remaining three initiatives will focus on the philosophy, psychology and sociology of transformative experiences.<\/p>\n

In total, The Experience Project will award funding to as many as 30 research teams. In addition, it will offer residential fellowships at both the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill<\/a> and Notre Dame\u2019s Center for Philosophy of Religion<\/a> and invite scholars to a series of collaborative workshops.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am genuinely excited about the potential for interdisciplinary dialogue,\u201d Rea said, \u201cand for cross-fertilization \u2014 people discovering ideas and results from other disciplines that will be of real use to them in their research.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evidence of God<\/strong><\/p>\n

The University of Notre Dame<\/a> is the ideal place to engage in questions of religious experience and transformation, noted Rea, a professor in the Department of Philosophy<\/a> who also co-directs the Center for Philosophy of Religion with Newlands.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis project will naturally immerse the researchers in the Catholic intellectual tradition,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd, the questions are significant not only to Christians, but to anyone whose beliefs and interests include religious experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Led by Rea, the religious experience component of the project will evaluate what constitutes a religious experience, whether these experiences provide evidence of the existence of God, and how such experiences alter the course of an individual\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

Researchers will explore the commonality of various types of religious experience \u2014 from historic examples like Blaise Pascal\u2019s \u201cnight of fire\u201d to a modern churchgoer feeling awash in divine love during a Sunday service.<\/p>\n

Rea also plans to examine the implications of not<\/i> having a religious experience. In a world of religious ambiguity, he said, the phenomenon of \u201cdivine hiddenness\u201d is often cited as evidence that God does not exist or does not care. While he does not expect to find a definitive explanation for the absence of religious experience, Rea hopes to \u201cundercut the inference\u201d that a hidden God is not a loving God.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf divine love is only analogically related to human love,\u201d said Rea, \u201cthen perhaps you can\u2019t infer from the fact that God is hidden that God doesn\u2019t love us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ordinary, but momentous events<\/strong><\/p>\n

Religious experiences are just one type of life-changing event The Experience Project will examine. Other components of the project focus on the broader realm of transformative experiences \u2014 from a student joining the Peace Corps to a person hearing music for the first time after a cochlear implant.<\/p>\n

\u201cA transformative experience,\u201d said Paul, \u201cis an enduring reorganization of a person\u2019s thinking \u2014 for instance, his or her beliefs, attitudes, traits or emotions \u2014 that substantially alters life as one experiences it or lives it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Connecting these \u201cordinary, but momentous events people face every day\u201d with precise philosophical and social science research, she said, has the potential to impact the decisions people make and the way they live their lives.<\/p>\n

Paul, a professor in the Department of Philosophy at UNC-Chapel Hill<\/a>, said she is particularly interested in examining life-changing choices \u2014 whether having a baby or entering the priesthood \u2014 whose impacts can only be truly understood after they occur.<\/p>\n

To make such a decision rationally, Paul argues, requires a different mindset.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t know what the lived experience is going to be like, because it\u2019s going to be so radically different from your previous experience,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat we have to do when we approach these big decisions is to think of it explicitly in terms of a discovery or a revelation.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, life involves taking the plunge by discovering what kind of person you\u2019re going to be when you become a parent, for example. That\u2019s what living your life authentically is all about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Life-changing experiences<\/strong><\/p>\n

Transformative experiences may be sudden or gradual, intentional or imposed, positive or negative, solitary or social. Whether they occur in the context of religion, family, social movement activism or another setting, they have the power to change not only our lives, but also our knowledge of what life can be like, Paul said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere an experience is both radically new and personally transformative \u2014 that\u2019s where the interesting questions come up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

While Rea and Paul\u2019s work will focus on philosophical questions, The Experience Project will also include research led by psychology director Fiery Cushman from Harvard University and sociology director Stephen Vaisey from Duke University.<\/p>\n

Paul said she is particularly looking forward to jointly developing the project alongside psychologists and sociologists. This innovative approach, she said, \u201cis making it possible for us to really push the frontiers of the idea forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Carrie Gates, University of Notre Dame<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Philosophers from UNC and Notre Dame will explore religious and transformative experiences thanks to a new grant from the John Templeton Foundation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8260,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,13],"tags":[24,2344,1849,2007,2345,755,2008,36,37,38,112,39,40,2346],"class_list":["post-8258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fine-arts-humanities","category-social-sciences","tag-carolina","tag-john-templeton-foundation","tag-l-a-paul","tag-laurie-paul","tag-notre-dame","tag-religious-and-transformative-experiences","tag-the-experience-project","tag-unc","tag-unc-arts-and-sciences","tag-unc-college-of-arts-and-sciences","tag-unc-philosophy","tag-unc-chapel-hill","tag-university-of-north-carolina-at-chapel-hill","tag-university-of-notre-dame"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8258"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46739,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8258\/revisions\/46739"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}