Psychopathology and Religious Experience: A Both-And Account?

Abstract: Some psychiatric and some pastoral literature about when instances of voice hearing should be regarded as religiously-inflected psychopathology and when they should be regarded as religious experiences tend to presuppose that a person’s experience can only be either psychopathological, or else a genuine religious experience. In this paper I will consider an alternative: the possibility of a both-and account. A both-and account might involve the idea that a religious experience causes psychopathology, or is psychopathology, or that people open to religious experiences may also be susceptible to psychopathology. After arguing that all of these are unsatisfactory, I will argue for another version of a both-and account: that genuine religious experience can arise out of situations involving psychopathology. I will also point to some of the clinical and pastoral implications of my view.