Is Religious Experience Epistemologically Reliable? An Embodied Cognitive Approach

The debate over the epistemological reliability of religious experiences between Perennialism and Constructivism remains unresolved. Perennialism argues that religious experiences reveal a shared ultimate reality, supported by Robert K. C. Forman’s Pure Consciousness Event (PCE) and Richard Swinburne’s principle of credulity. However, critics challenge this view due to cultural inconsistencies and naturalistic explanations. Constructivism contends that religious experiences are shaped by cultural and cognitive frameworks, questioning the possibility of unmediated encounters with the transcendent. Nonetheless, it faces criticism for its reductionism, potentially overlooking the existential and transformative dimensions of religious experiences. To bridge this gap, this paper explores Carlos Miguel Rincon’s embodied cognitive approach, which interprets religious experiences as existential events that provide practical guidance rather than epistemological truths. This perspective reconciles Perennialism and Constructivism by emphasizing the lived, transformative impact of religious experiences while addressing the question of epistemic reliability.