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The link between mysticism and the vision of the Divine was introduced by the early Church Fathers, who used the term as an adjective, as in mystical theology and mystical contemplation. [ 12 ] Theoria enabled the Fathers to perceive depths of meaning in the biblical writings that escape a purely scientific or empirical approach to ...
James distinguished between institutional religion and personal religion. Institutional religion refers to the religious group or organization, and plays an important part in a society's culture. Personal religion, in which the individual has mystical experience, can be experienced regardless of the culture.
The idea of mystical realities has been widely held in Christianity since the second century AD, referring not simply to spiritual practices, but also to the belief that their rituals and even their scriptures have hidden ("mystical") meanings. [1] The link between mysticism and the vision of the divine was introduced by the early Church ...
Stace argues that doctrinal differences between religious traditions are inappropriate criteria when making cross-cultural comparisons of mystical experiences. [7] Stace argues that mysticism is part of the process of perception, not interpretation, that is to say that the unity of mystical experiences is perceived, and only afterwards ...
Religion is the broader term: besides mythological aspects, it includes aspects of ritual, morality, theology, and mystical experience. A given mythology is almost always associated with a certain religion such as Greek mythology with Ancient Greek religion .
The meaning of spirituality has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. [1] [2] [3] [note 1] Traditionally, spirituality is referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape of man", [note 2] oriented at "the image of God" [4] [5] as exemplified by the founders and sacred texts of the religions of the world.
Ralph Merrifield, the British archaeologist credited as producing the first full-length volume dedicated to a material approach to magic, [2] defined the differences between religion and magic: "'Religion' is used to indicate the belief in supernatural or spiritual beings; 'magic', the use of practices intended to bring occult forces under ...
Historically, the words religious and spiritual have been used synonymously to describe all the various aspects of the concept of religion. [1] However, religion is a highly contested term with scholars such as Russell McCutcheon arguing that the term "religion" is used as a way to name a "seemingly distinct domain of diverse items of human activity and production". [6]