Abstract:
This article argues that “fear” can be understood as an alternate
state of religious consciousness. The aim is to demonstrate that
fear is central to the state of being of Jesus’ disciples when
their religious experience is characterised as “little faith” in the
Gospel of Matthew. The nature of religious experience is
explained by means of William James’s understanding of
critical-empirical epistemology. A general overview is given of
what alternating states of consciousness are. From the perspective
of a radical-empirical approach to experienced reality, a
distinction is made between an alternation in a state of
consciousness and an alternation in phenomenal property. This
insight is applied to that passage in the Gospel of Matthew
where the implications of fear for the experiences of the
disciples can be observed most clearly, namely Mt 13:53-
17:27. In this passage their state of being is described as “little
faith”, and it is suggested that the integrity of their message
would not be accepted unless they overcome their fear. Transcendence
of fear implies an alternation in phenomenal property.
The article concludes with an illustration that “little faith”,
which is “fear”, can be the psychological consequence of
political hegemony on religious experience, both in antiquity
and today.
