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Rudolf Otto (1869–1937) was one of the most important contributors to the study of religions at the beginning of the 20th century. His book, The Idea of the Holy, became a sensation in its time, and his account of numinous experience as a mysterium tremendum et fascinans (“a mystery that both repels and attracts”) had an effect equalled by few other ideas in the study of religions. His vocabulary broke through narrow disciplinary bounds and was taken up by scholars in a variety of disciplines in the humanities and the social sciences. Since the 1960s, Otto has been increasingly overlooked and neglected. As thinkers and scholars have turned in many other intellectual directions, they have tended to see Otto as representative of a past to be rejected. The Holy in a Pluralistic World gathers essays from a variety of perspectives – theology, religious studies, intellectual history, and cultural studies – to address what Otto’s legacy for the 21st century might be. This volume explores Otto’s ideas and their contexts, then turns to the area that Otto, more than any other German theologian or philosopher of religion, opened up: an engagement with the world of religions. However, Otto’s influence has never been confined to systematic religious thought and the study of religions. His ideas have resonated more widely, and essays presented here examine this wider impact, in architecture, poetry, politics, and the contemporary world more generally. The Holy in a Pluralistic World is not an attempt to revivify Rudolf Otto, nor offer a magisterial statement about Otto’s significance today. It issues an invitation to those with an interest not just in religions but also in cultural phenomena to take another look at Otto and his ideas. Perhaps they will find more than they expect, and something that they can use.

Published: Jun 17, 2022