The Idea of the Holy is Rudolf Otto's 1917 examination of the non-rational dimension of religious experience. Otto argues that the concept of the holy cannot be reduced to ethics or reason alone; it contains a distinct element he names the numinous, from the Latin numen. He describes the numinous as an experience of something wholly other (ganz Andere) that is at once a mysterium tremendum (an awe-inspiring mystery) and a mysterium fascinans (a compelling fascination). Drawing on texts from multiple religious traditions, Otto argues this structure of experience is a common thread underlying religion rather than a feature unique to any one tradition.
First published in German as Das Heilige, it reached English-speaking readers in 1923 in a translation by John W. Harvey. It became one of the most widely discussed works in twentieth-century religious studies, influencing scholars including Mircea Eliade, Carl Jung, and C. S. Lewis.
The feeling of it may at times come sweeping like a gentle tide pervading the mind with a tranquil mood of deepest worship.
Chapter 4, on the numinous feeling
Reception
First published in German in 1917, the book was translated into approximately 20 languages and never went out of print, making it one of the more durable works in the academic study of religion. Mircea Eliade acknowledged it as the starting point for his 1954 study The Sacred and the Profane. Carl Jung adopted the concept of the numinous and applied it to analytical psychology. C. S. Lewis cited the book directly in The Problem of Pain. The work's reception has not been uniformly positive: critics in sociology of religion and comparative religious studies have questioned whether the numinous is a genuinely cross-cultural category or a Protestant-inflected construct that privileges certain forms of religious experience. The sui generis approach Otto represented came under sustained critique from around 1990 onward, though a partial rehabilitation followed as its phenomenological dimensions attracted renewed scholarly attention.
Frequently asked
What is The Idea of the Holy about?
It is Rudolf Otto's analysis of the non-rational dimension of religious experience. Otto argues that the concept of the holy includes an irreducible element beyond ethics and reason — what he calls the numinous — which he describes as a mystery that is at once awe-inspiring and compelling.
What does "numinous" mean in Otto's work?
Otto coined the term from the Latin numen (divine power) to name the non-rational, non-sensory element at the heart of religious experience. He describes it as an encounter with something wholly other — a presence that inspires awe, dread, and fascination simultaneously.
Why is The Idea of the Holy considered historically significant?
Published in German in 1917, the book shaped comparative religion and the phenomenology of religion throughout the twentieth century. Mircea Eliade, Carl Jung, and C. S. Lewis each cited it as a direct influence on their work.