ABSTRACT
Religious experience (RE) is one of the central facts of religion. Without it there would be no religions. It is one of the classic, and most convincing, arguments for the existence of God. Otto (1917) thought that the core of religion was the irrational emotional experience of the Holy. We shall see in Chapter 6 that religious beliefs may be attempts to put REs into words. Psychological research on this topic can add a great deal to our knowledge of these phenomena-what exactly they are like, who has them, what varieties they take, whether they have a common core. In the next chapter we shall look at the conditions that produce them and the effects that they have.
