RUDOLPH OTTO'S IDEA OF THE HOLY: A REAPPRAISAL
Owen Ware
The Heythrop Journal December 20, 2006 DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2265.2007.00305.x (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Citations | 8 |
| Key points | Argues that numinous experience in Otto's work is best understood as the breakdown of subject-object dualism, and that this breakdown is better interpreted in non-theistic terms, drawing on Jean-Luc Marion's concept of saturated phenomena. |
Abstract
This paper explores the ambiguity in Rudolph Otto's discussion of the mysterium tremendum in order to address a broader set of difficulties in The Idea of the Holy (1917). In doing so, I outline two common criticisms of Otto's position. The first attacks Otto for not providing a secure transition from the numinous experience of terror to the holy experience of faith. The second attacks Otto for upholding a kind of theistic dualism, which seemingly puts his thought at odds with mysticism. Rather than reconstruct Otto's argument in favour of theism, I maintain that numinous experience, while still a form of otherness or alterity, is best characterized as the breakdown of subject‐object dualism. I further suggest that this breakdown is best understood in non‐theistic terms. For examples of the latter, I briefly turn to Jean‐Luc Marion's notion of saturated phenomena.