Lecture slides from "Introduction to Religious Studies" at the University of Alabama. Written by Prof. Michael J. Altman

1. Religion is Tremendous
Rudolph Otto

2. Rudolph Otto (1869-1937)
• Lutheran (Christian)
historian of religion
• The Idea of the Holy
(1917)

3. Phenomenology of Religion
• Asserts that religion is autonomous and
sui generis
• Avoids assessing truth or reality of
religious claims
• Studies the public or exterior forms of an
essence
• Emphasis on religious experience

4. Otto’s definition of religion:
• Numinous experience
“Numen”-- Latin for a deity that presides over a
certain place.
“Oh oh, sometimes I get a good feeling,
yeah
I get a feeling that I never never never never
had before, no no”

5. Otto’s definition of religion
“Mysterium tremendum et fascinatas”
A tremendously powerful yet magnetizing,
fascinating mystery.

6. Mysterium
The numinous is a mystery. We cannot fully
understand it.
We can only talk about it in metaphor and
symbol
“No trick plays, I'm Bill Gates,
Take a genius to understand me”

7. Tremendum
It is awe-inspiring, powerful, tremendous.
• “majesta”– majesty, power
• Urgency and energy

8. Tremendum
The mountain top, walk on water
I got power, feel so royal
Witness I got the heart of twenty men
No fear, go to sleep in the lion's den
That flow, that spark, that crown
You looking at the king of the jungle now
Stronger than ever can't hold me down

9. et fascinans
We are fascinated by it. We can’t look away
from it. We are attracted to it.
“Yes I can, doubt that I leave, I'm running
with this plan
Pull me, grab me, crabs in the bucket can't
have me”

10. Examples of the MTeF
• Abraham and God
• Paul on the Road to Damascus
• Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita

11. Problems with Otto’s definition:
1. Problem of experience.
1. Have you experienced this?
2. How do you get at experience
2. Problem of deities. (What about
Buddhism?)
3. Problem of Mystery.