Contemplation, Miracle and Novelty: Towards the Foundations of Religious Experience

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22240/sent29.02.127

Keywords:

astonishment, contemplation, miracle, novelty, religious experience, practice, theory

Abstract

In this article, on the basis of analysis of the classical definition of a miracle (from D. Hume to C. S. Lewis and R. Swinburne) and the nonclassical one (J.L.Marion and J. P. Manussakis), the phenomenological and the etymological aspects of a miracle are exаmined. Taking into consideration the historical development of the concept of a miracle, the author proves the connections between contemplation, miracle and novelty. They are necessary for the constituting of religious experience. Faith itself, in theological sense, is not determinative for religious experience. It has sense only when it is integrated into contemplation. True religious experience discloses the chain of routine, repetitive everydayness and lets a human being to see the new in the usual. The religious experience is based on the art of contemplation which helps a human being to look with astonishment. The author argues that phenomenological approach to a miracle combined with the etymological analysis is a valuable method for the study of a miracle in the context of the history of philosophy.

Author Biography

Ihor Karivets, Lviv National Polytechnic University

PhD in Philosophy, Associate Professor at the Chair of Philosophy

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Published

2013-12-16

How to Cite

Karivets, I. (2013). Contemplation, Miracle and Novelty: Towards the Foundations of Religious Experience. Sententiae, 29(2), 127–137. https://doi.org/10.22240/sent29.02.127

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