A Typology of Religious Experience

A Typology of Religious Experience
Author(s): Robert D. Margolis and Kirk W. Elifson

Source: Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Mar., 1979), pp. 61-67
Published by: Wiley on behalf of Society for the Scientific Study of Religion
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A Typology of Religious Experience*

ROBERT D. MARGOLISt
KIRK W. ELIFSONt
A typology of religious experience was developed based on interviews (N = 45) with
individuals claiming to have had religious experiences. Subjects' accounts were content-analyzed
to extract the major attributes of the experience. These attributes were then factor-analyzed to
determine the number of distinctively different types of the religious experience. A total of four
factors were extracted, each descriptive of a distinct type of religious experience.
In spite of the extensive research on the phenomena of mystical or religious

experiences during the past decade, an important question remains unanswered. Is
there a discrete set of characteristics of the religious experience or is there more than
one type of religious experience with each type possessing unique characteristics?
Stace (1960) argues that there is a unique religious experience with a clearly defined
set of characteristics. He presents numerous examples of religious experiences and
extracts what he believes to be the defining characteristics. On the other hand,
Streng (1970) suggests that it is a mistake to look for a set of core elements of religious
experience.
A content analysis of various accounts of religious experiences and subsequent
factor analysis of the categories provides some clarification of this issue. If there is
indeed only one set of attributes which characterize a religious experience, then only
one factor should emerge. Conversely, the emergence of several should provide a
typology which specifies (a) different types, if any, of personal religious experiences,
and (b) the attributes or characteristics of these experiences.
Previous Typologies: A Discussion and Critique
Many of the attempts to specify the attributes of religious experiences were
based on reviews of personal accounts. The first such attempt was by James (1902),
who, after presenting numerous examples of religious experiences, arrived at four
characteristics common to the experience: ineffability, noetic quality, transiency,
and passivity.
Stace (1960) also sought to isolate the attributes of religious experience, and
Hood's studies (1973, 1975) have been based on his contribution. Stace limited his
inquiry to "a central nucleus of typical cases" (p. 46) and excluded two categories of
experiences as not genuine. These two excluded classes were experiences involving
visions and voices, and those involving raptures, trances, and hyperemotionalism
(p. 54). Such judgments narrow the focus of his inquiry and appear unnecessarily to
bias his work from the beginning.
*This study is based upon an unpublished doctoral dissertation (Margolis: 1977).The authors wish to thank
Robert Baker, Richard Gorsuch, Bernard Kempler and an anonymous reviewerfor their helpful comments.
tRobert D. Margolis, Clayton Mental Health Center.Kirk W.Elifson is Associate Professor in the Department
of Sociology, Georgia State University.
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 1979, 18 (1): 61-67

61
62
JOURNAL FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION
In addition to narrowing his focus by excluding certain experiences as not valid,

much of Stace's inquiry appears to have a moralistic tone not conducive to an
objective study by using such phrases as "higher" or "moreimportant experiences"
as opposed to "lower" or "inferior experiences" without explanation or apparent
justification.
Greeley (1975), in a national survey of 600 respondents who claimed to have had
a mystical experience, asked subjects to respond to structured items which he had
derived from the writings of Laski (1968) and others, which appropriately
characterized their experience. This study is noteworthy in that it employs a large
nationwide sample, and it goes directly to people who claim to have had a mystical
experience. The list of items is questionable, however, since Laski's sample included
primarily her friends and acquaintenances. Thomas and Cooper (1977) raised
serious doubts concerning the value of any structured question to measure a mystical
experience and concluded that since each respondent's interpretation of the meaning
of a structured question is vastly different, the use of structured questions to measure
mystical experience is not appropriate.
Hood (1973, 1975) has gone beyond the typology stage in developing a scale of
mystical experience so that experiences can be placed on a mysticism/nonmysticism continuum. In his 1973 study, Hood operationally defined religious
experience by classifying the experiences of his subjects as either mystical or nonmystical based upon criteria developed by Stace (1960). Hood (1975) extended this
approach with the development of a mysticism scale containing 32 items. Hood
(1973, 1975) does not adopt Stace's categories directly but in some cases deletes
categories, combines categories, or substitutes his own terminology. For example, he
eliminated Stace's category of paradoxicality. In addition, Stace's category of
"unitary consciousness" is renamed "positive affect," and he blurred Stace's basic
distinction between introvertive and extrovertive mysticism.
Thomas and Cooper (1977),in reviewing Hood's Mysticism Scale, concluded that
it suffers from the same basic flaw as Greeley's (1975) study-the use of structured
questions. In addition, they point out that
the items of the Hood Mysticism Scale are even less specific than the Greeley survey questions....
The researcher has no way of knowing from the response to such structuredquestions whether a
respondent has had a mystical experience, one of several types of psychic encounters, or a totally
irrelevant experience that was, nonetheless, impressive for the respondent (pp. 14-15).
METHODS
Subjects
A group of religious experiences was collected from 45 subjects. The primary
criterion for selecting subjects was willingness to state that they had had a religious
experience. In addition, the experience must, in the experimenter's opinion, qualify
under Yinger's definition (1970) which states that a religious experience is one which
is primarily concerned with people's relationship to some ultimate reality; that is, an

TYPOLOGYOF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
63
experience which has at its core a metaphysical or transcendent quality.'

Subjects were solicited in several ways. First, advertisements were placed in
several local newspapers. The text of these advertisements read: "Wanted: people
who have had a religious or mystical experience to participate in a research study."
Subjects were also solicited from local church and religious groups. An attempt was
made to contact a wide range of denominations and sects including traditional
Protestant prayer meetings as well as Meher Baba and other Eastern religious sects.
In all, experiences were collected from approximately eight different religious groups
in two states in the Southeastern section of the United States. All subjects who
volunteered for this study were screened initially by the experimenter to determine
that their experience did indeed conform to the broadly based definition of religious
experience given above.2 This screening was done during the initial telephone or
personal contact with the subject. Each subject was asked to describe the experience
briefly. The actual number not included was quite small and constituted less than
10%of the total number who volunteered.
The interviews were conducted in an office setting and were tape-recorded and
later transcribed. For each experience a standard set of five questions was asked,
dealing with antecedent events, the experience itself, and ways in which the
experience has affected the subject's life. Although an attempt was made to confine
the interview to these five questions, the experimenter frequently probed. Subjects
were allowed to volunteer more than one experience. The 45 subjects reported 69
experiences with no subject volunteering more than three experiences.3 When more
than one experience was volunteered, the experimenter repeated the same set of
questions for each experience.4
Procedures
A content analysis of the reported experiences was performed to determine the
primary characteristics of a religious experience. Categories were established by
reading the experiences and listing the dominant themes of the experience (Holsti,
1969: 646). Following this, each experience was rated for the presence or absence of
each theme and the number of times each theme occurred. After the tabulation was
completed, it was decided that any theme which occurredfive or more times would be
1. In the absence of any specific acceptable guidelines for including different experiences as "valid"
religious experiences, it was decided to adopt the broadest possible definition of religious experience rather
than excluding specific experiences based on narrower criteria without adequate empirical justification.
2. Thomas and Cooper's (1977) criticism of Hood's Mysticism Scale can also be made here; however, an
interview allows for eliciting in-depth responses from the subject that are not possible with a selfadministered instrument.
3. While a non-probability sample of 45 respondents may not seem impressive, one contribution of this
study is the quality of information on each subject.The possibility of generalizing is limited, but we certainly
do not view the typology as final, only a step forward.
4. The senior author, a clinical psychologist, conducted the interviews and sought to standardize all
portions of the interview procedure and thus minimize the procedural variation. None of the subjects
exhibited any gross signs of being emotionally disturbed.

64
included in the typology.5 The content analysis was structured so that the themes
could be divided into three broad categories: "Before," "During," and "After" the
experience. The content analysis yielded a total of 36 themes.
Once the content analysis was completed, the themes of the religious experience
were factor-analyzed using principal component analysis with a oblimin rotation
procedure (Harman, 1967).6 A separate factor analysis was performed on each of the
three broad categories: "Before," "During," and "After" the experience. Those
factors whose eigenvalues were greater than one were retained and variables with
high (+.30 to +1.00) loadings were included in the factors. A typology of religious
experience was developed from the factor analysis and included only the part of the
analysis which pertained to "During the Experience" factors.
RESULTS
The content analysis of 69 religious experiences yielded the following 20 themes
which are presented along with the number of times they occurred: Change in
perception of reality (29), Security (28), Nonspecific change in internal statecognitively oriented (24), Ecstasy (23), Initial negative reaction (22), Visions or
voices (22), Experience of divine presence (18), Nonspecific change in internal statefeeling oriented (17), Peace (14), Church service or religious retreat (13), Talking to a
friend (12), Out-of-body experience (9), Loss of control (9), Experience of unity or
oneness (6), Experience of love (6), Drugs (6), Dream (5), Physical distress (5), and
Music (5).
A factor analysis of these themes yielded four factors which are presented in
Table 1. Although these factors appear to be quite different, they all seem to be
intense emotional experiences, and, with the exception of Factor 2 (Vertigo
Experience), they seem to have a positive emotional tone.
Factor 1 (Transcendental Experience) is very similar to the classical mystical
experience described by Stace and others. This factor is named "Transcendental
Experience" because it involves coming into contact with a higher or metaphysical
plane of reality; and this contact dramatically changes the way the subject perceives
himself and the world. This factor, of course, was present by definition, given the
procedures for recruiting subjects.
Factor 2 (Vertigo Experience) involves at least a temporary disorientation for
the subject. It is often triggered by "Drugs" or "Music." "Out-of-the-body
5. Although a theme which occurs five times accounts for less than 8%of the total number of experiences,
there were two reasons for choosing a low number as a cutoff point. First, a factor analysis was subsequently
to be performed on the themes in the content analysis, and, in a factor analysis, even themes which occur
relatively infrequently can have a significant factor loading if they occur often enough in conjunction with
other themes. Secondly, five seemed a natural cutoff point since the next lowest theme below five occurred
only twice.
6. A general factor was a theoretical possibility and direct oblimin rotation was employed (Gorsuch, 1974:
192). Higher order factors were not extracted since an examination of the factor correlation matrix revealed
no zero-ordercoefficients greater than .08. Obviously, the analysis was exploratory in nature and did not
contain a statistically adequate number of variables (experiences). However, because the original factors
comprised the typology, which was then externally validated using independent data, we felt that a factor
analysis was warranted. Each of the 36 themes were coded as (1) present or (2) absent for each subject, and
then factor analyzed (Gorsuch, 1974: 262).

TYPOLOGYOF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
65
TABLE 1
A TYPOLOGY OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE*
I TRANSCENDENTAL EXPERIENCE: (FACTOR I)
1. Security (.77)
a. "There was such a warmth, a feeling of security and love."
b. "I just felt at peace, as if someone was telling me that everything was going to be alright."
c. "It felt like coming home ... that everything was very secure."
2. Increased feeling of relatedness to God, or the Universe (.75)
a. "It was like I had been away from God for millions of yearsandnow I wasfinallygoingback."
b. "It was a feeling of being personally known and understood and having a place where you
belonged in the whole scheme of things ... like being in touch with a personal God."
c. "I felt a total peace with the universe ... I was in total touch with the life force that's in the
Universe."
3. Feeling of Peace (.68)
4. A new reality (Noetic quality) (.67)
a. "I was like mentally in another world."
b. "I saw that there are different planes-that there are different forms."
c. "It was a real transformation of how I was in contact with myself and with reality."
5. Feelings of ecstasy or joy (.60)
6. Feelings of unity or oneness (.44)
a. "I was inside somehow-inside where everything was one and it was God."
b. "It seemed like a common thing in all of us, one thing we were all part of."
c. "I saw things without a subject/object duality."
7. Out-of-the-bodyexperience (.40)
II. VERTIGO EXPERIENCE: (FACTOR II)
1. Listening to music (.74)
2. Drugs (.66)
3. Out-of-the-body(.51)
4. Loss of Control (.45)
a. "I was just like shaking all over and crying ... I couldn't control my emotions."
b. "I was paralyzed-I couldn't move ... (I had) feelings of being whipped around by a 90 mile-anhour wind."
c. "I was shocked, helpless-either I ignored it or what, I just let loose."
5. Initial negative reaction (.41)
a. "I screamed, I was scared and I hid my head under the pillow."
b. "It was just a terrible fear. I felt like I would die."
6. Visions or voices (.40)
a. "I heard my name being called . . . over and over again."
b. "I had a vision of Meher Baba."
c. I saw this figure that sort of resembled God."
III. LIFE CHANGE EXPERIENCE: (FACTOR III)
1. Nonspecific change in internal state (feeling oriented) (.75)
a. "It felt like something on rollers came into my body."
b. "Something came over me like a wave. It was so much of an incredible rush."
c. "I really felt the presence of the spirit of the Lord ... It was just kind of a warmth or something. It
is kind of hard to describe."
2. Unity or oneness (.56)
3. Talking to a friend (.50)
a. "I met a man at work . . . and he witnessed to me about what happened in his own life."
b. "I met a person who was a friend of mine. He sort of helped me-he didn't advise me but sort of
helped me at different times."
c. "A friend of mine had been trying to commit suicide. We had a long talk."
4. Nonspecific change in internal state (cognitively oriented) (.43)
a. "And I laid down in my bunk and began to think over my life... And it was kind of amazing
because I began to see the Bible in a new light."
b. "I started becoming aware of the possibility of mental powers outside and all around ... I knew
something was going to happen."
5. Attending a church service or religious retreat (.33)

66
IV. VISIONARY EXPERIENCE: (FACTOR IV)

1. Experience of a divine presence (.70)
a. "And there was a glowing light to my right... I knew that was God."
b. "All of a sudden I became aware of God."
c. "I felt like I had died and I said 'I've finally gone to God.'"
2. Visions or voices (.68)
3. A dream (.57)
4. Experience of love (.47)
5. Experience of ecstasy or joy (.36)
*Following each variable is its rotated factor loading.
experiences" are common, and the individual feels as if he is losing control and often
feels frightened initially by this experience. Thus, like the "Transcendental
Experience," the "Vertigo Experience" involves a significant alteration in the way
the individual perceives himself and his world. Yet his reaction is often one of fear of
loss of control rather than feelings of positive affect such as peace, ecstasy, and
security.
Factor 3 (Life Change Experience) in many cases involves descriptions of
thoughts or feelings that tended to be vague or difficult to specify. Thus, there were
many "Nonspecific changes in internal states," both "feeling" and "cognitively"
oriented. In many ways, however, this experience seemed to mark the beginning of a
life change for the individual in that his thinking or his feelings about himself or his
relationship to God were profoundly affected.
Factor 4 (Visionary Experience) often occurred during a "Dream."The subjects
frequently reported an "Experience of a divine presence," "Visions or voices," and
they often experienced feelings of "Love" or "Ecstasy." It is important to note that
this experience, although it is often associated with a dream, is perceived as being a
genuine contact with a divine presence.
DISCUSSION
These factors tend to share the characteristics of (a) unity, (b) ineffability, (c)
noetic quality, (d) positive affect, and (e)time/space distortions. Unity was one of the
attributes mentioned under the "Transcendental Experience" and the "Life Change
Experience." The noetic quality seems to correspond to the "new reality" variable in
the "Transcendental Experience." In addition, the quality of positive affect seems to
be similar to the variables "ecstasy or joy," "peace," and "security" found under the
"Transcendental Experience" as well as the variable "quality of love" found under
the "Visionary Experience." Although subjects in this study did not mention
ineffability as an attribute of the religious experience, in the "Life Change
Experience" there are many vague references to nonspecific changes in internal
states, both feeling and cognitively oriented, which suggest that the experience may
have been difficult to describe. The similarities to previous typologies provide a
source of external validation for this typology as an accurate representation of the
characteristics of a religious experience.7
7. While only one rater conducted the content analysis, this validation proceduresuggests that the scoring
procedurewas reliable.

TYPOLOGY OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
67
The fact that more than one factor emerged seems to support Streng's (1970)
contention of the multi-dimensionality of religious experiences. Although these
experiences may share some elements, the continuity of religious life is more like
links in a chain which overlap, not a unique set of elements common to all religious
experiences.
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Gorsuch, R. L.
1974 Factor Analysis. Philadelphia: W. B.
Saunders.
Greeley, A.
1975 Sociology of the Paranormal: A
Reconnaissance. London: Sage.
Harman, H. H.
1967 Modern Factor Analysis. Chicago:
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Holsti, O. R.
1969 "Content analysis." In G. Lindzey and E.
Aronson (eds.), The Handbook of Social
Psychology. Reading, Mass.: AddisonWesley, Vol. 2: 596-693.
Hood, R. W., Jr.
1973 "Religious orientation and the experience
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James, W.
1961 The Varieties of Religious Experience.
New York:Collier.
Laski, M.
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and
experience:
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Unpublished doctoral dissertation,
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Stace, W. T.
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Author(s): Robert D. Margolis and Kirk W. Elifson

This content downloaded from 134.76.63.66 on Thu, 26 Dec 2013 22:48:03 PM