RUDOLPH OTTO'S IDEA OF THE HOLY: A REAPPRAISAL
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 tra...
| Published in: | Heythrop journal |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
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| Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
2007
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| In: |
Heythrop journal
Year: 2007, Volume: 48, Issue: 1, Pages: 48-60 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | 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. |
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| ISSN: | 1468-2265 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Heythrop journal
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2265.2007.00305.x |