St. Joseph of Copertino painting

Ludovico Mazzanti: St. Joseph of Copertino is lifted in flight at the site of the Basilica of Loreto (18th century). Public Domain.

Project (2017-2027)

Transcendent Experiences: Phenomena, Ideas, and Judgements

Transcendent experiences can have a strong impact on the lives and thoughts of those experiencing them. They are understood as experiences that transcend ordinary reality or familiar categories of explanation, like, e.g., so-called otherworld experiences, or experiences of a seemingly extraordinary influence of the mental upon the physical. Until now, the phenomenology of transcendent experiences, their impact on the history of ideas, and the ways of judging them are under-researched. The project’s objective is to study these aspects of transcendent experiences and to develop elements of an “art of judgment” concerning them. So far, the project has dealt with, inter alia, the significance of otherworld experiences for the idea of bodily resurrection, the reincarnation interpretation of past-life experiences, Kant’s critique of Swedenborg, and the reflections of Gottlob B. Jäsche, a follower of Kant, on his alleged encounter with his deceased wife. Currently a book on the significance of transcendent experiences for the study of human nature is under preparation.

Rogier van der Weyden: Beaune Altarpiece, The resurrection of the dead.

Rogier van der Weyden: Beaune Altarpiece, ca. 1450. Oil on Oak. 220 cm x 548 cm. Detail: The resurrection of the dead. Hôtel Dieu, Beaune.

Publications

Schwenke, Heiner, ed. (2022). Gottlob Benjamin Jäsche: Liebe und Glaube: Morgengedanken An meine Sally, die Verklärte. Transzendente Erfahrungen — Phänomene und Deutungen 4. Freiburg im Breisgau: Verlag Karl Alber.

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Schwenke, Heiner (2021). “Past-Life Experiences: Re-Living One’s Own Past Lives or Participation in the Lives of Others?” Journal of Anomalistics 21 (2): 367–397. https://doi.org/10.23793/zfa.2021.367.

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Schwenke, Heiner (2020). Die Leben der Anderen: Reinkarnation als Fehldeutung von Erfahrungen früherer Leben. Transzendente Erfahrungen — Phänomene und Deutungen 3. Freiburg im Breisgau: Verlag Karl Alber.

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Schwenke, Heiner (2019). The Confusion of Worlds: Resurrection, the Kingdom of God, and Otherworld Experiences. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications.

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