A Critical Review on the Book Mysticism, East and West by Rudolf Otto

Rudolf Otto's book Mysticism, East and West is a landmark in comparative mysticism, arguing that mysticism is fundamentally a kinship between Eastern and Western traditions. Otto uses the concept of the "Numinous" or Sacred to bridge historical and geographical divides between religions. First published in 1926, the work compares the Hindu mystic Shankara, representing Eastern mysticism, with the Christian mystic Eckhart, representing Western mysticism. Otto seeks to provide a model for understanding religious truth and comparing religious thinkers, presenting mysticism as a phenomenon that is inherently East-West in nature, building on ideas first explored in his 1923 book The Idea of the Holy.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The book Mysticism, East and West by Rudolf Otto, is one of the most important examples of comparative studies of mysticism in the world. The discussion of the East and the West and how they relate to each other is at least for Otto one of the pillars of the philosophy of religion that has been reflected in this book. Otto sees mysticism as the kinship of the east and west. The term “Nominus/ Sacred”, more than anything else, makes it possible for the Eastern-Western look to be used because it can go beyond the history and geography of religions. The nature of the western-eastern philosophy of the comparative religion of Otto first appeared in 1923, in the form of the book of the Holy Idea: The study of the irrational factor in the idea of the divinity and its relation to the rational, and then published more widely and deeply in the Mysticism, East and West, published in 1926. The book, reminding Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s famous book titled West–östlicher Divan (West–Eastern Diwan), discusses mysticism as a phenomenon that is East-West in its nature. Explaining this Western-Eastern phenomenon, Otto compares the Hindu Mystic Shankara to represent eastern mysticism and the Christian Mystic Eckhart to represent western mysticism and seeks to provide a model for understanding the truth of the religion and comparing religious thinkers.