Dale C. ALLISON, JR. Encountering Mystery: Religious Experience in a Secular Age. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2022. Pp. 253 + x. NP pb. ISBN 9780802881885. Reviewed by Calvin MERCER, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858.  

To appreciate this book, it is necessary to understand what it is not. It is not a scholarly examination of religious experience. The reader will not find here an assessment of the latest cognitive science findings about religion. There are no extensive cross-cultural comparisons. With reader expectations adjusted, this book is a fascinating presentation of the diversity and extent of religious experience in a secular age. The author names the book’s orientation as “pastoral.” “What good is an underinformed religious leader who is at a loss or dismissive in the face of mystical rapture, unexpected occurrences at deathbeds, visions of self-luminous figures, or encounters with dead loved ones.” (p. 188)

Dale C. Allison, Jr., is the Richard J. Dearborn Professor of New Testament Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary. Although his professional field is biblical studies and he is explicit about this not being an academic treatise, Allison is clearly conversant with the issues involved in academic debates about religious experience.

Brief accounts of his own several “overwhelming, powerful” and life-changing mystical experiences pave the way for numerous reports of intense religious experiences. These reports, many of which are provided verbatim, are organized into chapters about prayer, angels, approaching death, and near-death experiences.

Most of the reports testify to the life-altering nature of the mystical experience, a feature echoed by Allison’s experiences. The author’s three mystical experiences, added up, occupied less than a minute of his life. However, one of them became “not a parenthetical moment but rather the existential center of my entire life,” and “the experiential foundation upon which I have built everything else.” (p. 3)

Other characteristics are common in the reports. Many of the experiences “come out of nowhere,” pointing to the element of grace, and many reports affirm the central role of nature in mediating the experience.

Allison’s collection and his references to surveys make clear numinous experiences are not uncommon. The author expresses his dismay that most theologians and scholars pay little heed to this vast store of human experience. Hopefully, his collection and thoughtful reflections will spur more interest and critical analysis. They certainly make for an intriguing read.