The author proclaims as his purpose to help Christians and Churches
to understand better the relationship between Faith and experience.
Religion
Gillespie does not speak much about religion but uses the term Faith.
The only time he really mentions religion is when he understands it
to help interpret religious experience because it has a language that
can be used. It is because of this that it is only religious people
who claim to have religious experiences ( p 39). However the negative
aspect of the religious language is that each religion has a different
tradition and language and so uses its own concepts in the interpretation
of RE and so promotes itself (p 54)
Faith
Faith is not equivalent to Religion. Faith is understood as something
that influences and is expressed in all areas of life. Faith is putting
credence in something and organising our life around it; it is not
a theory; it is a relationship (p 26).
The second part of the book focuses on the experience of faith and
is clearly influenced by Piaget and Fowler. The primary move to faith
is through experience because it is an attitude, a relationship, a
feeling, an experience, an attitude (p 73)
The author provides 5 models of faith, which he relates to "stages
of faith" and to age development. He considers them useful for developing
pastoral care.
Borrowed Faith - early childhood (copied from others) a simple trust
in God.
Reflected Faith - middle childhood, God is care and love. Faith is
about acceptance and a recognition that the person is an individual.
Personalised Faith - early adolescence changes of worldview and cognitive
development mean a readiness to change - by being an individual and
at the same time willing to conform. It is about independence.
Established Faith - later youth Faith is about commitment, and a
need for religious meaning, but with emphasis on the spiritual rather
than the religious.
Reordered Faith - young adult. A theological approach to faith where
experience is focused on relationships. This is the age of rejection
of the institutional church and the emphasis on personal experiences.
Reflective Faith - middle adult An emphasis on the present and the
achievement of goals means an emphasis on ritual and experience.
Resolute Faith. - older adult A faith that looks to the future, with
a growing sense of commitment it is noted that in contrast to Fowler,
the author does not make any judgements of the models of faith and
does not see and evolution of faith - rather that faith at different
ages is authentic but different.
Religious experience
The importance of experience is what happens to the person. The RE
is similar to other experiences, what is different is the way they
are interpreted . If they are interpreted religiously then they are
REs.
"for religious people there are no secular events, since the religious
experiences we have are related to the significance we place on them
as we interpret them according to our life-viewpoint" (p 39). The
author surveys different classifications and qualities of religious
experiences, particularly William James, Lee and Ralf Hood.
Conclusion
There are some good aspects to this book, but most of the book is
about faith rather than religious experinces. Consequently the title
of the book as The Expereince of Faith.
