Sacred Space: A Theological/Aesthetic View
Religions August 26, 2025 Richard Viladesau
Feeling and thought operate largely through learned and transcultural associations. In Western art, certain arrangements of sounds, shapes, and colors are assumed to evoke particular emotions and ideas. Rudolph Otto applies this idea to the experience of the "Holy" as a unique, irreducible "mysterium tremendum et fascinans," yet a "law of associations" allows aesthetic and moral experiences to evoke the numinous by analogy. The analysis questions whether religious consciousness is a sui generis experience or an interpretation. Post-Kantian transcendental theology proposes that "depth" or "limit" experiences are implicit in consciousness, providing a basis for associations with ultimate mystery.