The rhetoric of experience and the study of religion
@article{Sharf2000TheRO, title={The rhetoric of experience and the study of religion}, author={Robert H. Sharf}, journal={Journal of Consciousness Studies}, year={2000}, volume={7} }
One might expect an essay on the term ‘experience’ to begin with a definition, but immediately we confront a problem. To define something entails situating it in the public sphere, assuming an objective or third-person perspective vis-à-vis the term or concept at issue. The problem with the term ‘experience’, particularly with respect to its use in the study of religion, is that it resists definition by design; as we will see, the term is often used rhetorically to thwart the authority of the…
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