The mystical-religious experience as a starting point for the analysis of Christian praxis

Abstract

This research aims to be a propose of the analysis of christian práxis taking as its starting point the mystical-religious experience. The response of Friedrich Schleiermacher to the Enlightenment era has much to benefit us, especially if we take into account the criticism of Rudolf Otto. Understanding the "dependence feeling" by Schleiermacher, that becomes by Otto "creature feeling," and the reality of the experience of God that connects to the practice, they provide us with an excellent starting point for understanding what moves people to a life of resignation, servitude and commitment to values and principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Based on a field survey it was revealed that there is a connection between christian práxis and the religious experience. When there is religious experience, christian actions are performed with naturalness, with higher incidence than when there is no experience. We may have much to lose if we fail to consider the experiential aspect of the christian faith with the sacred. Firstly, in our theological formulations which may, to a greater or lesser degree, emphasize anthropocentric aspects, leaving aside the numinous aspect. Secondly, we will lose the opportunity of influencing the church to a real spiritual practice that consider, with all due importance, the experience of faith and not only catechetical aspects. Finally, we lose the ability to analyze the life of faith taking as its starting point the experience of God, which may have been the main influencer agent for a living example of true christian práxis.