Rudolf Otto (25 September 1869 – 7 March 1937) was a German

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

theologian, philosopher, and

comparative religion Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts (including human migration, migration) of the world's religions. In general the comparative study ...

ist. He is regarded as one of the most influential scholars of religion in the early twentieth century and is best known for his concept of the ''

numinous Numinous () means "arousing spiritual or religious emotion; mysterious or awe-inspiring";Collins English Dictionary - 7th ed. - 2005 also "supernatural" or "appealing to the aesthetic sensibility." The term was given its present sense by the Ger ...

'', a profound emotional experience he argued was at the heart of the world's religions. While his work started in the domain of liberal Christian theology, its main thrust was always apologetical, seeking to defend religion against

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

critiques, making him a more conservative figure. Otto eventually came to conceive of his work as part of a science of religion, which was divided into the

philosophy of religion Philosophy of religion is "the philosophical examination of the central themes and concepts involved in religious traditions". Philosophical discussions on such topics date from ancient times, and appear in the earliest known Text (literary theo ...

, the

history of religion The history of religion is the written record of human religious feelings, thoughts, and ideas. This period of religious history begins with the invention of writing about 5,200 years ago (3200 BCE). The Prehistoric religion, prehistory of reli ...

, and the psychology of religion.

Life

Born in Peine near

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

, Otto was raised in a pious Christian family. He attended the Gymnasium Andreanum in

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; or ; ) is a city in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim (district), Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of t ...

and studied at the universities of

Erlangen Erlangen (; , ) is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative district Erlangen), and with 119,810 inhabitants (as of 30 September 2024), it is the smalle ...

and

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

, where he wrote his dissertation on

Martin Luther Martin Luther ( ; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, Theology, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Reformation, Pr ...

's understanding of the

Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the Holy Ghost, is a concept within the Abrahamic religions. In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is understood as the divine quality or force of God manifesting in the world, particularly in acts of prophecy, creati ...

(''Die Anschauung von heiligen Geiste bei Luther: Eine historisch-dogmatische Untersuchung''), and his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

on Kant (''Naturalistische und religiöse Weltansicht''). By 1906, he held a position as

extraordinary professor Academic ranks in Germany are the titles, relative importance and power of professors, researchers, and administrative personnel held in academia. Overview Appointment grades * (Pay grade: ''W3'' or ''W2'') * (''W3'') * (''W2'') * (''W2'', ...

, and in 1910 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Giessen. Otto's fascination with non-Christian religions was awakened during an extended trip from 1911 to 1912 through North Africa,

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

, China, Japan, and the United States. He cited a 1911 visit to a Moroccan synagogue as a key inspiration for the theme of the Holy he would later develop. Otto became a member of the Prussian parliament in 1913 and retained this position through the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. In 1917, he spearheaded an effort to simplify the system of weighting votes in

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n elections. He then served in the post-war constituent assembly in 1918, and remained involved in the politics of the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

. Meanwhile, in 1915, he became ordinary professor at the University of Breslau, and in 1917, at the

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg () is a public research university located in Marburg, Germany. It was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Prote ...

's Divinity School, then one of the most famous

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

seminaries A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clerg ...

in the world. Although he received several other calls, he remained in

Marburg Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...

for the rest of his life. He retired in 1929 but continued writing afterward. On 6 March 1937, he died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

, after suffering serious injuries falling about twenty meters from a tower in October 1936. There were lasting rumors that the fall was a suicide attempt but this has never been confirmed. He is buried in the Marburg cemetery.

Thought

Influences

In his early years Otto was most influenced by the German idealist theologian and philosopher Friedrich Schleiermacher and his conceptualization of the category of the religious as a type of emotion or consciousness irreducible to ethical or rational epistemologies. In this, Otto saw Schleiermacher as having recaptured a sense of holiness lost in the

Age of Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment (also the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment) was a Europe, European Intellect, intellectual and Philosophy, philosophical movement active from the late 17th to early 19th century. Chiefly valuing knowledge gained th ...

. Schleiermacher described this religious feeling as one of absolute dependence; Otto eventually rejected this characterization as too closely analogous to earthly dependence and emphasized the complete otherness of the religious feeling from the mundane world (see below). In 1904, while a student at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

, Otto became a proponent of the philosophy of Jakob Fries along with two fellow students.

Early works

Otto's first book, ''Naturalism and Religion'' (1904) divides the world ontologically into the mental and the physical, a position reflecting Cartesian dualism. Otto argues

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is awareness of a state or object, either internal to oneself or in one's external environment. However, its nature has led to millennia of analyses, explanations, and debate among philosophers, scientists, an ...

cannot be explained in terms of physical or neural processes, and also accords it epistemological primacy by arguing all knowledge of the physical world is mediated by personal experience. On the other hand, he disagrees with Descartes' characterization of the mental as a rational realm, positing instead that rationality is built upon a nonrational intuitive realm. In 1909, he published his next book, ''The Philosophy of Religion Based on Kant and Fries'', in which he examines the thought of Kant and Fries and from there attempts to build a philosophical framework within which

religious experience A religious experience (sometimes known as a spiritual experience, sacred experience, mystical experience) is a subjectivity, subjective experience which is interpreted within a religious framework. The concept originated in the 19th century, a ...

can take place. While Kant's philosophy said thought occurred in a rational domain, Fries diverged and said it also occurred in practical and aesthetic domains; Otto pursued Fries' line of thinking further and suggested another nonrational domain of the thought, the religious. He felt intuition was valuable in rational domains like mathematics, but subject to the corrective of reason, whereas religious intuitions might not be subject to that corrective. These two early works were influenced by the rationalist approaches of

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works ...

and Jakob Fries. Otto stated that they focused on the rational aspects of the divine (the "Ratio aeterna") whereas his next (and most influential) book focused on the nonrational aspects of the divine.

''The Idea of the Holy''

Otto's most famous work, '' The Idea of the Holy'' was one of the most successful German theological books of the 20th century, has never gone out of print, and is available in about 20 languages. The central argument of the book concerns the term ''

'', which Otto coined. He explains the numinous as a "non-rational, non-sensory experience or feeling whose primary and immediate object is outside the self". This mental state "presents itself as ''ganz Andere'', wholly other, a condition absolutely ''

sui generis ( , ) is a Latin phrase that means "of its/their own kind" or "in a class by itself", therefore "unique". It denotes an exclusion to the larger system an object is in relation to. Several disciplines use the term to refer to unique entities. ...

'' and incomparable whereby the human being finds himself utterly abashed." According to Mark Wynn in the ''

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy The ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''SEP'') is a freely available online philosophy resource published and maintained by Stanford University, encompassing both an online encyclopedia of philosophy and peer-reviewed original publication ...

'', ''The Idea of the Holy'' falls within a paradigm in the philosophy of emotion in which emotions are seen as including an element of

perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous syste ...

with intrinsic epistemic value that is neither mediated by thoughts nor simply a response to

physiological Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...

factors. Otto therefore understands religious experience as having mind-independent phenomenological content rather than being an internal response to belief in a divine reality. Otto applied this model specifically to religious experiences, which he felt were qualitatively different from other emotions. Otto felt people should first do serious rational study of God, before turning to the non-rational element of God as he did in this book.

Later works

In ''Mysticism East and West'', published in German in 1926 and English in 1932, Otto compares and contrasts the views of the medieval German Christian mystic

Meister Eckhart Eckhart von Hochheim ( – ), commonly known as Meister Eckhart (), Master Eckhart or Eckehart, claimed original name Johannes Eckhart,

with those of the influential Hindu philosopher

Adi Shankara Adi Shankara (8th c. CE), also called Adi Shankaracharya (, ), was an Indian Vedanga, Vedic scholar, Hindu philosophy, philosopher and teacher (''acharya'') of Advaita Vedanta. Reliable information on Shankara's actual life is scant, and h ...

, the key figure of the Advaita Vedanta school.

Influence

Otto left a broad influence on theology,

religious studies Religious studies, also known as religiology or the study of religion, is the study of religion from a historical or scientific perspective. There is no consensus on what qualifies as ''religion'' and definition of religion, its definition is h ...

, and

, which continues into the 21st century.

Christian theology

Karl Barth, an influential Protestant theologian contemporary to Otto, acknowledged Otto's influence and approved a similar conception of God as ''ganz Andere'' or ''totaliter aliter'', thus falling within the tradition of

apophatic theology Apophatic theology, also known as negative theology, is a form of theology, theological thinking and religious practice which attempts to Problem of religious language, approach God, the Divine, by negation, to speak only in terms of what may no ...

. Otto was also one of the very few modern theologians to whom

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer, literary scholar and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and Magdalen ...

indicates a debt, particularly to the idea of the ''numinous'' in ''

The Problem of Pain ''The Problem of Pain'' is a 1940 book on the problem of evil by C. S. Lewis, in which Lewis argues that human pain, animal pain, and hell are not sufficient reasons to reject belief in a good and powerful God. Lewis states that his writin ...

''. In that book Lewis offers his own description of the numinous: German-American theologian Paul Tillich acknowledged Otto's influence on him, as did Otto's most famous German pupil, Gustav Mensching (1901–1978) from Bonn University. Otto's views can be seen in the noted

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

theologian

Karl Rahner Karl Rahner (5 March 1904 – 30 March 1984) was a German Jesuits, Jesuit priest and theologian who, alongside Henri de Lubac, Hans Urs von Balthasar, and Yves Congar, is considered to be one of the most influential Catholic theology, Cat ...

's presentation of man as a being of transcendence. More recently, Otto has also influenced the American

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendi ...

and inspirational speaker Richard Rohr.

Non-Christian theology and spirituality

Otto's ideas have also exerted an influence on non-Christian theology and spirituality. They have been discussed by Orthodox Jewish theologians including Joseph Soloveitchik and

Eliezer Berkovits Eliezer Berkovits (8 September 1908, Oradea, Nagyvárad, Austria-Hungary – 20 August 1992, Jerusalem) was a rabbi, theologian, and educator in the tradition of Orthodox Judaism. Life Berkovits received his rabbinical training first un ...

. The Iranian-American

Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

religious studies scholar and public intellectual

Reza Aslan Reza Aslan (, ; born May 3, 1972) is an Iranian-American scholar of sociology, writer, and television host. A convert to Evangelicalism, evangelical Christianity from Shia Islam as a youth, Aslan eventually reverted to Islam but continued to wr ...

understands religion as "an institutionalized system of symbols and metaphors ..with which a community of faith can share with each other their numinous encounter with the Divine Presence." Further afield, Otto's work received words of appreciation from Indian independence leader

Mohandas Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British ...

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley ( ; 26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. His bibliography spans nearly 50 books, including non-fiction novel, non-fiction works, as well as essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the ...

, a major proponent of perennialism, was influenced by Otto; in '' The Doors of Perception'' he writes:

Religious studies

In ''The Idea of the Holy'' and other works, Otto set out a paradigm for the study of religion that focused on the need to realize the religious as a non-reducible, original category in its own right. The eminent Romanian-American historian of religion and philosopher Mircea Eliade used the concepts from ''The Idea of the Holy'' as the starting point for his own 1954 book, ''The Sacred and the Profane''. The paradigm represented by Otto and Eliade was then heavily criticized for viewing religion as a ''sui generis'' category, until around 1990, when it began to see a resurgence as a result of its phenomenological aspects becoming more apparent. Ninian Smart, who was a formative influence on religious studies as a secular discipline, was influenced by Otto in his understanding of religious experience and his approach to understanding religion cross-culturally.

Psychology

Carl Gustav Jung, the founder of analytic psychology, applied the concept of the ''numinous'' to

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

and

psychotherapy Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...

, arguing it was therapeutic and brought greater self-understanding, and stating that to him religion was about a "careful and scrupulous observation… of the ''numinosum''". The American Episcopal priest John A. Sanford applied the ideas of both Otto and Jung in his writings on religious psychotherapy.

Philosophy

The philosopher and sociologist Max Horkheimer, a member of the

Frankfurt School The Frankfurt School is a school of thought in sociology and critical theory. It is associated with the University of Frankfurt Institute for Social Research, Institute for Social Research founded in 1923 at the University of Frankfurt am Main ...

, has taken the concept of "wholly other" in his 1970 book ''Die Sehnsucht nach dem ganz Anderen'' ("longing for the entirely Other"). Walter Terence Stace wrote in his book '' Time and Eternity'' that "After Kant, I owe more to Rudolph Otto's ''The Idea of the Holy'' than to any other book." Other philosophers influenced by Otto included

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; 26 September 1889 – 26 May 1976) was a German philosopher known for contributions to Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. His work covers a range of topics including metaphysics, art ...

Leo Strauss Leo Strauss (September 20, 1899 – October 18, 1973) was an American scholar of political philosophy. He spent much of his career as a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, where he taught several generations of students an ...

, Hans-Georg Gadamer (who was critical when younger but respectful in his old age), Max Scheler,

Edmund Husserl Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl (; 8 April 1859 – 27 April 1938) was an Austrian-German philosopher and mathematician who established the school of Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology. In his early work, he elaborated critiques of histori ...

, Joachim Wach, and Hans Jonas.

Other

The war veteran and writer

Ernst Jünger Ernst Jünger (; 29 March 1895 – 17 February 1998) was a German author, highly decorated soldier, philosopher, and entomology, entomologist who became publicly known for his World War I memoir ''Storm of Steel''. The son of a successful busin ...

and the historian and scientist Joseph Needham also cited Otto's influence.

Ecumenical activities

Otto was heavily involved in

ecumenical Ecumenism ( ; alternatively spelled oecumenism)also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalismis the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships ...

activities between

Christian denominations A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

and between Christianity and other religions. He experimented with adding a time similar to a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

moment of silence to the Lutheran

liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

as an opportunity for worshipers to experience the numinous.

Works

A full bibliography of Otto's works is given in Robert F. Davidson, ''Rudolf Otto's Interpretation of Religion'' (Princeton, 1947), pp. 207–9

In German

* ''Naturalistische und religiöse Weltansicht'' (1904) * ''Die Kant-Friesische Religions-Philosophie'' (1909) * ''Das Heilige – Über das Irrationale in der Idee des Göttlichen und sein Verhältnis zum Rationalen'' (Breslau, 1917) * ''West-östliche Mystik'' (1926) * ''Die Gnadenreligion Indiens und das Christentum'' (1930) * ''Reich Gottes und Menschensohn'' (1934)

English translations

''Naturalism and Religion''
trans J. Arthur Thomson & Margaret Thomson (London: Williams and Norgate, 1907) riginally published 1904 *''The Life and Ministry of Jesus, According to the Critical Method'' (Chicago: Open Court, 1908), . *'' The Idea of the Holy,'' trans JW Harvey (New York: OUP, 1923; 2nd edn, 1950; reprint, New York, 1970), riginally published 1917*''Christianity and the Indian Religion of Grace'' (Madras, 1928) *''India's Religion of Grace and Christianity Compared and Contrasted'', trans FH Foster (New York; London, 1930) *'The Sensus Numinis as the Historical Basis of Religion', '' Hibbert Journal'' 29, (1930), 1–8 *''The Philosophy of Religion Based on Kant and Fries'', trans EB Dicker (London, 1931) riginally published 1909*''Religious essays: A supplement to 'The Idea of the Holy, trans B Lunn, (London, 1931)
''Mysticism East and West: A Comparative Analysis of the Nature of Mysticism''
trans BL Bracey and RC Payne (New York, 1932) riginally published 1926*'In the sphere of the holy', ''Hibbert Journal'' 31 (1932–3), 413–6 *''The original Gita: The song of the Supreme Exalted One'' (London, 1939) *''The Kingdom of God and the Son of Man: A Study in the History of Religion'', trans FV Filson and BL Wolff (Boston, 1943) *''Autobiographical and Social Essays'' (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1996),

References

External links

Otto and the NuminousNuminous
– references from several thinkers at Earthpages.ca
International Congress: Rudolf Otto
–