In the synoptic gospels, God’s voice is heard primarily through the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The canonical gospels mark a significant change of understanding of how God speaks to people in comparison with the preceding Hebrew tradition. However, I propose that the most theologically and psychologically significant narratives that might be understood as examples of voice hearing in the New Testament may usefully be grouped together in this way. Nor is it the case, as will also become clear, that these are the only figures in the New Testament who might be considered to have heard voices.
This is not to suggest at the outset that any of these figures necessarily were voice hearers (although this possibility will be explored). 4 The four figures who might most readily be identified as putative voice hearers within these narratives are Jesus, Peter, Paul, and John (the author of Revelation). The “voices” that are heard in the New Testament mostly appear within narratives that are presented as historical. The primary concern here is with the search for a psychological account, but it will not be possible to explore this in any detail without also giving consideration to historical, theological, and narrative accounts. Does voice hearing “explain” some of the most significant spiritual and religious experiences of the New Testament?Īs previously argued in Chapter 2, the complexities incurred by the existence of overlapping and diverse accounts of the phenomenon that might be offered are significant. There is thus an important case to answer. 2 And, as will be discussed later in this chapter, there have been various attempts to “explain” the resurrection appearances of Jesus on the basis of bereavement-related hallucinations. (2014, p.5214) list “Paul on the road to Damascus”, amongst foundational religious figures, as having had “Culturally Meaningful” hallucinations. For example, Jesus and St Paul are listed by John Watkins in his book Hearing Voices (2008, p.30) amongst other “famous voice hearers”, 1 and Kauffman (2016) also lists them both as founders of religion who had “verifiable persistent non-drug-assisted hallucinations”. However, the voices that are identifiable are very significant and, as with the Old Testament, there have again been those who are quick and unhesitating in their identification of examples of voice hearing within its pages.
In contrast to the Old Testament, the New Testament seems to offer many fewer examples of what might be understood as “voice hearing”.
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