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The Idea of the Holy: An Inquiry into the Non Rational Factor in the Idea of the Divine 1926

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Rudolf Otto (1869-1937) was a German Lutheran theologian and scholar of comparative religion.

In Otto's Foreword to the first English edition of this 1917 book, he wrote, "In this book I have ventured to write of that which may be called 'non-rational' or 'supra-rational' in the depths of the divine nature. I do not thereby want to promote in any way the tendency of our time towards an extravagant and fantastic 'irrationalism,' but rather to join issue with it in its morbid form."

Otto coins a new term to describe the 'extra' meaning behind the word 'holy': "I adopt a word coined from the latin 'numen.' Omen has given us 'ominous,' and there is no reason why from numen we should not singularly form a work 'numinous.' I shall speak, then, of a unique 'numinous' category of value and of a definitely 'numinous' state of mind, which is always found wherever the category is applied... (it) cannot, strictly speaking, be taught, it can only be evoked, awakened in the mind; as everything that comes 'of the spirit' must be awakened." He later elaborates, "The 'holy' will then be recognized as that which commands our respect, as that whose real value is to be acknowledged inwardly."

He argues that Christianity "stands out in complete superiority over all its sister religions. The lucid edifice of its clear and pure conceptions, feelings, and experiences is built up on a foundation that goes far deeper than the rational... And thus Christianity, in the healthily proportioned union of its elements, assumes an absolutely classical form and dignity ... in Christianity an element of man's spiritual life ... has for the first time come to maturity in a supreme and unparalleled way."

He states, "The criterion of the value of a religion as religion cannot ultimately be found in what it has done for culture ... nor in any of its external features. It can only be found in what is the innermost essence of religion, the idea of holiness as such, and in the degree of perfection with which any given religion realizes this."

His other major work is Mysticism East and West: A Comparative Analysis of the Nature of Mysticism (Quest Books).