Rudolf Otto and Mystical Experience
Religious Studies September 1, 1991 DOI: 10.1017/s0034412500021065 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mystical experience |
| Key points | Argues that the common criticism that Rudolf Otto neglected mystical experience is misplaced and stems from a misreading of his work by most of his students. Contends that The Idea of the Holy offers a substantive account of mystical experience and of its relationship to devotional religion that remains relevant and challenges current phenomenological and philosophical assumptions about mysticism. |
Abstract
Rudolf Otto has often been criticized for not showing enough interest in mystical experience. In this article I want to demonstrate how misplaced this criticism is and to show that it is based on an erroneous interpretation of the relationship between numinous and mystical experience in his work by most of his students. I shall argue that, particularly inThe Idea of the Holy, Otto offers an account of the nature of mystical experience which should be of considerable interest to students of mysticism today, not least because it calls into question many of the assumptions that are presently made about mysticism by phenomenologists and philosophers of religion. Most of this article will be devoted to an examination of references to mysticism inThe Idea of the Holyand to an evaluation of Otto's observations about the nature of mystical experience, and I shall conclude that Otto's account of the relation-ship between mystical and devotional forms of religion provides a significant, but frequently overlooked, insight into the nature of mystical experience.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on mystical experience, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal Lobe Function: A General Hypothesis | 1983 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Psychedelic Mystical Experience in the Human Encounter with Death | 1969 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Vectorial Cerebral Hemisphericity as Differential Sources for the Sensed Presence, Mystical Experiences and Religious Conversions | 1993 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The epistemic innocence of psychedelic states. | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mystical Experience and Religious Doctrine | 1982 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 9
- Ken Wilber's Spectrum Model: Identifying Alternative Soteriological Perspectives Religion 2001
- Oceanic feelings and their relationship to spirituality and personality organization. Frontiers in Psychology 2025
- 6 Scholars Lock Horns July 7, 2005
- 7 On the Couch, in the Lab July 7, 2005
- 4 Divine Cosmos July 7, 2005
and 4 more in the library