Occasional Papers

The Occasional Papers are publications of the Religious Experience Research Centre (Lampeter). Each engages with religious experience in a unique way.

Some authors have worked with the accounts of religious experience in RERC while others approach the topic religious experience in a wider, sometimes more general way. A common feature of the Occasional Papers is that they demonstrate the diversity of the methods and approaches to the study of religions experience.

While it is still possible to order printed copies of the Occasional Papers directly from the Centre, we have decided to make them available online. We hope that the open access will increase the recognition of the work of the RERC in the last decades. We are developing a new online, open access journal for the study of religious experience that will continue offering an insight into the academic work of the RERC.

Prof Bettina Schmidt, Director of the Religious Experience Research Centre

The Second Series of Occasional Papers published by the Religious Experience Research Centre

Please be aware that the page numbers have changed in preparation of these e-copies of the Occasional Papers. When referencing please add ‘[e-copy]’ after the original publication date.

  1. The Revd. Professor Frank Whaling: Christianity and New Age Thought, 2nd edition (Feb 2010)
  2. Dr. Bryan Wilson: Religious Experience: A Sociological Perspective (Dec 1996)
  3. Dr. Mark Fox: Searching for the Truth Around the Next Twist: Why Do We Like"The X-Files" (Dec 1996)
  4. The Revd. Dr. Henry Rack: Early Methodist Experience Some Proto-Typical Accounts (Mar 1997)
  5. Dr. Oliver Davies: Spirituality and Culture: the Case of Celtic Christianity (Dec 1996)
  6. Dr. Julia Watkin: Kierkegaard's God and Hawking's Universe (Apr 1997)
  7. Fr. Richard Woods, OP: Mediaeval and Modern Women Mystics: The Evidential Character of Religious Experience (Aug 1997)
  8. Professor Michael Argyle: The Psychological Perspective on Religious Experience, 2nd edition (Oct 2009)
  9. Dr. Peter Donovan: Spirits and Spirituality (Apr 1997)
  10. Edward Robinson: Religious Experience: Beginning the Research (May 1997)
  11. Dr. Anne Eyre: Football & Religious Experience: Sociological Reflections (Aug 1997)
  12. Sir Alister Hardy: The Significance of Religious Experience (Aug 1997)
  13. Professor Paul Badham: Religious and Near-Death Experience in Relation to Belief in a Future Life (Aug 1997)
  14. Dr. Graham Harvey: Religious Experience in Contemporary Society (Oct 1997)
  15. Hugh Boulter: Religious Experience in the Inter-Faith Context (Jan 1998)
  16. Sister Elaine MacInnes: Spirituality Imprisoned (Jan 1998)
  17. The Revd. Dr. Colin Thompson: Poetry and Spirituality (Apr 1998)
  18. Dr. Mukti Barton: Liberation Spirituality as a Signal of Transcendence: Christian and Muslim Women in Bangladesh (Oct 1998)
  19. Dr. David Hay: Alister Hardy: Biologist of the Spirit (Nov 1998)
  20. Revd Marcus Braybrooke: Spiritual Experience that Crosses Religious Divisions (Feb 1999)
  21. Professor John Rodwell: The Experience of Passion in Creation (Jul 1999)
  22. Cathy Ota, Jane & Clive Erricker: Children, Adults and Spirituality - What's the Connection? (Jul 1999)
  23. Dr. Peter Connolly: A Psychology of Possession (Mar 2000)
  24. Dr. Sue Hamilton: The Centrality of Experience in the Teachings of Early Buddhism (May 2000)
  25. Dr. Eleanor Nesbitt: Children's Experience of Religion: Issues Arising From Ethnographic Study of 8-13 year olds' Perspectives (Jun 2000)
  26. Dr. Chakravarthi Ram Prasad: Religious Experience in Hindu Traditions (Aug.2000)
  27. Olga Pupynin and Simon Brodbeck: Religious Experience in London (Dec 2000)
  28. Dr Roderick Main: Putting the Sinn Back into Synchronicity (Mar 2001)
  29. Ron Geaves: Religious Experience in Islam (May 2001)
  30. Lene Sjørup: Mysticism and Gender (May 2001)
  31. Ann Hardy: Film, Spirituality and Hierophany (May 2001)
  32. Drs. Saroj and John Parratt: Female Spirit – Possession Rituals Among the Meiteis of Manipur (Jan2002)
  33. Dr. Fiona Bowie: Belief or Experience? The Anthropologists' Dilemma (May 2002)
  34. Dr Paul McQuillan: Encounters Beyond the Pond: The Limit Experience of Senior High School Students (Jul 2002)
  35. Dr. Dominic Corrywright: New Age Alternative Spiritualities (Oct 2002)
  36. Dr. Janet Williams: Tickling the Tiger’s Ears: The Complicated Experience of Zen (Oct 2002)
  37. Myra Bennett: Seventy-Four Christian Experiences: A Comparative Study of Experiences from Four Different Traditions (Mar 2003)
  38. Prof. John Hedley Brooke: Can Scientific Discovery be a Religious Experience? (Jun 2003)
  39. Dr. Mark Fox: Sharing the Light: An Analysis of RERC Archival Accounts, describing Shared Experiences of Unusual Light (May 2003)
  40. Dr. Maya Warrier: Devotion to a Goddess in Contemporary India (Aug 2004)
  41. Dr. Cafer Yaran: Muslim Religious Experiences (Aug 2004)
  42. Prof. Muhammad K Shaker: Spirituality and Prayer in Shiite Islam (Feb 2005)
  43. Prof. Xinzhong Yao: ‘Self-Power’ and ‘Other Power’ in Chinese Spirituality (Mar 2005)
  44. Prof. Keith Ward: Is There a Common Core of Religious Experience? (May 2005)
  45. Dr. David Grumett: Christ in the World of Matter: Teilhard De Chardin’s Religious Experience and Vision (Mar 2006)
  46. Dr. Andrew Welburn: Transformation of Religious Experience: The Approach of Rudolf Steiner (May 2006)
  47. Dr. Hilary Knight: The Contribution of the Study of Religious Experience to Spiritual Care in the Health Service (Oct 2006)
  48. Prof. Ursula King: Ecological and Mystical Spirituality from an Interfaith Perspective (Aug 2009)
  49. Michael Rush: On the Side of Angels? Neuroscience and Religious Experience (Aug 2009)

The Third Series of Occasional Papers published by Religious Experience Research Centre

  1. Merete Demant Jakobsen: Negative Spiritual Experiences: Encounters with Evil (May 1999)
  2. Marianne Rankin: An Introduction to Religious Experience (Mar 2005)
  3. Natalie Tobert: In-Sanity: Explanatory Models for Religious Experience (Oct 2007)