Religious Experience and the Knowledge of God: The Evidential Force of Divine Encounters

by Harold A. Netland

For many Christians, personal experiences of God provide an important ground or justification for accepting the truth of the gospel. But we are sometimes mistaken about our experiences, and followers of other religions also provide impressive testimonies to support their religious beliefs. This book explores from a philosophical and theological perspective the viability of divine encounters as support for belief in God, arguing that some religious experiences can be accepted as genuine experiences of God and can provide evidence for Christian beliefs.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Christian

304 pages, Paperback

Published February 8, 2022

About the author

Harold A. Netland (PhD, Claremont Graduate University) is director of the PhD in Intercultural Studies program and professor of philosophy of religion and intercultural studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He is the author of Encountering Religious Pluralism and Dissonant Voices.

Reviews

[Jonathan Ammon · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I may differ than the author in several places, this was virtually everything I hoped it would be, and should be valuable to anyone interested in the subject.

[Zach Hollifield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mulling it over. Review forthcoming.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Typical Netland: erudite, clear, and supremely informative. The issues around religious experience and their evidential force was the subject of a grad level paper in my Epistemology class, and this book surveyed the primary and secondary literature very well while offering judicious and evenhanded critiques.

[Rusty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Netland takes us through his reasoning for what he calls the critical-trust approach to religious experence. His arguements are well thought and he addresses multiple views from history as well as current thought.