SYMBOL, REAL AND THE SACRED IN THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF MIRCEA ELIADE (1907-1986)
Icoana Credintei January 24, 2023 Alexandru-Corneliu Arion 1 citation
Mircea Eliade's history of religions rests on the idea that humans are inherently religious beings (homo religiosus), which leads to the postulate of an indestructible, absolute unity of the human spirit. Eliade prioritizes phenomenology over history, understanding religious phenomena as 'hierophany'—any manifestation of the sacred. Meaning is found in the 'modalities of the sacred' revealed by hierophany, and identifying these modalities is more important than tracing a hierophany's history. Eliade's experience of the sacred as coincidentia oppositorum draws from Rudolf Otto's mysterium tremendum et fascinans. Myth reveals the actual structure of divinity, which transcends all attributes and reconciles all contraries.