The Numinous and Modernity. An Interpretation of Rudolf Otto`s Philosophy of Religion

248 Pages·2000·6.842 MB·English

by  Todd A. Gooch

Todd A. Gooch
The Numinous and Modernity
Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die
alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
Herausgegeben von
Otto Kaiser
Band 293
W
DE
G
Walter de Gruyter · Berlin • New York
2000
Todd A. Gooch
The Numinous and Modernity
An Interpretation of
Rudolf Otto's Philosophy of Religion
w
DE
G
Walter de Gruyter • Berlin · New York
2000
® Frinted on acid-free paper which falls within the guidelines of the ANSI
to ensure permanence and durability.
Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufnahme
Gooch, Todd Α.:
The numinous and modernity : an interpretation of Rudolf Otto's
philosophy of religion / Todd A. Gooch. - Berlin ; New York :
de Gruyter, 2000
(Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft ;
Bd. 293)
Zugl.: Claremont, Univ., Diss., 2000
ISBN 3-11-016799-9
© Copyright 2000 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, D-10785 Berlin.
All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages. No part of this book
may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permis-
sion in writing from the publisher.
Printed in Germany
Cover design: Christopher Schneider, Berlin
Printing: Werner Hildebrand, Berlin
Binding: Lüderitz & Bauer-GmbH, Berlin
Preface:
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts
The reader of the present volume might be surprised to find a study of Ru-
dolf Otto and his book Das Heilige in a series dedicated to the Old Testament.
The current book might indeed have appeared in a variety of other contexts,
but its publication within this particular series is by no means accidental,
either.
As such, a study of Rudolf Otto needs no justification. In light of its im-
portance and ambivalence, Das Heilige has been dramatically understudied:
probably the best-selling theological work of the 20th Century, it was often
disparaged by the theologians; a world event when it appeared, it was ridi-
culed by the fashionable students at Otto's own university only ten years
later; a book whose success is usually explained by its context, it continues
to sell copies every day even today, and it was translated during the past dec-
ade into several additional languages. Yet, while there have been a few recent
studies of Otto and his work, none has really dealt sufficiently with the
full scholarly and socio-political context, Otto's intellectual heritage, and
especially with the reception of Das Heilige when the book was first pub-
lished.
Todd Gooch's very readable account does just that. It unites highly sophis-
ticated methodology with very sound documentation. The unpublished ma-
terial he uses is quite superior to the basis of any previous Otto study (the
book dons a too modest cloak and does not make this explicit enough), and
the author's impressive competence, not only in the German language as
such, but also in the specific idiom and world of thought of Otto's time and
place, make the present volume particularly important.
But why, again, the Old Testament series? Dr. Gooch's theological —
rather than philosophical or religious studies — association with those with
an Old Testament background during his two years at Marburg, where the
study was written, has something to do with that. More importantly, how-
ever, the title of this preface, from Isaiah 6.3, forms for good reasons the
inscription on Rudolf Otto's grave in the Marburg Cemetery on Ockers-
häuser Allee. For those of us who occasionally walk by the simple tombstone
in this beautiful last garden, it serves as a constant reminder of the narrative
of the call of the Prophet Isaiah as the key text for Das Heilige as a whole.
Preface
We trust that Todd Gooch's book on Rudolf Otto and Das Heilige will be
interesting for almost anyone concerned with theology, religion, philosophy,
and the modern history of ideas. We hope, however, that it will be particularly
rewarding for those with an Old Testament focus, the general audience of
this series, lest they forget one of the most important aspects of their study.
Marburg, August 2000 Otto Kaiser
Wolfgang Drechsler
Contents
CONTENTS ν
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii
INTRODUCTION
I. THE IMPACT OF DAS HEILIGE AND THE PECULIARITY OF ITS RECEPTION 1
II. A REVIEW OF SELECTED LITERATURE ON OTTO 8
III. PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE PRESENT STUDY 19
IV. HERMENEUTICAL REMARKS 25
CHAPTER ONE
OTTO AS HEIR AND INTERPRETER
OF SCHLEIERMACHER'S SPEECHES ON RELIGION
I. THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF OTTO'S RECEPTION OF SCHLEIERMACHER 28
II. "HOW SCHLEIERMACHER REDISCOVERED RELIGION" 35
III. THE ESSENCE (WESEN) OF RELIGION IN THE SPEECHES 40
IV. BLUEPRINT FOR A THEOLOGICAL SCIENCE OF RELIGION 45
CHAPTER TWO
THE KANTIAN-FRIESIAN PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
I. OTTO, TROELTSCH AND THE SEARCH FOR THE RELIGIOUS A PRIORI 52
II. RELIGIOUS FEELING AND THE CRITICAL PHILOSOPHY 57
III. AESTHETIC JUDGMENT, AHNDUNG AND
THE COMMUNICABILITY OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE 64
IV. THE THREAT OF HISTORICISM AND
THE "TESTIMONIUM SPIRITUS SANCTI INTERNUM" 73
CHAPTER THREE
THE PSYCHOLOGY AND HISTORY OF RELIGION IN OTTO'S THOUGHT
I. OTTO'S CRITIQUE OF WUNDT'S THEORY OF ANIMISM 78
II. OTTO AS PRACTITIONER OF VERSTEHENDE PSYCHOLOGY 86
III. OTTO AND THE SEARCH FOR THE ORIGIN OF RELIGION 96
Contents
IV. THE HISTORY OF RELIGION FROM WITHIN 99
CHAPTER FOUR
OTTO'S INVESTIGATION OF THE HOLY
I. THE NUMINOUS AS AN INDEPENDENT CATEGORY OF RELIGIOUS VALUE 104
II. THE VARIOUS MOMENTS OF THE NUMINOUS ILL
III. AESTHETIC ANALOGIES AND THE SUBLIMATION OF THE NUMINOUS 120
IV. THE RELIGIOUS A PRIORI AND THE HISTORY OF RELIGION 123
CHAPTER FIVE
DAS HEILIGE AND GERMAN "IRRATIONALISM"
AFTER THE FIRST WORLD WAR
I. OTTO'S ENIGMATIC RELATION TO THE "MOOD OF THE TIMES" 132
II. THE NUMINOUS, ERLEBNIS AND LEBENSPHILOSOPHIE 138
III. "THE DIONYSIAN EFFECT OF THE NUMEN" 144
IV. OTTO'S RESPONSE TO NIETZSCHE AND KLAGES
IN THE LECTURES ON ETHICS 156
CHAPTER SIX
THE CONCEPT OF VALUE IN OTTO'S LATER THOUGHT
I. THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL ETHICS OF VALUE 160
II. OTTO'S ETHICS OF VALUE 166
III. ETHICS AND RELIGION IN OTTO'S LATER THOUGHT 174
IV. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF OTTO'S POSITION 178
CHAPTER SEVEN
DAS HEILIGE AND THE RELIGIOUS AMBIVALENCE OF MODERNITY
I. OTTO'S DIAGNOSIS OF THE MODERN RELIGIOUS SITUATION 184
II. THE MARGINALIZATION OF THE NUMINOUS
IN THE RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT OF THE WEST 190
III. HOW OTTO REDISCOVERED "RELIGION" 202
IV. THEOLOGY IN THE IRON CAGE 211
BIBLIOGRAPHY 219
INDEX OF NAMES 232
Acknowledgements
The following study is a revised version of my Ph.D. dissertation, entitled
Rudolf Otto, Holiness and the Disenchanftment of the World, which was
presented to the faculty of the Department of Religion at Claremont Graduate
University in August, 1999. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the
members of my dissertation committee, Jack Verheyden, Ann Taves and D.Z.
Phillips, for their helpful comments on several earlier drafts, and for their
support throughout the writing process. I would also like to express my
appreciation to Professor Dr. Dres. h.c. Otto Kaiser for reading and com-
menting on my dissertation, and for allowing the revised version to be
published in the Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissen-
schaft. Special thanks are due to Professor Dr. Wolfgang Drechsler, my
Fulbright advisor in Germany, without whose initial encouragement and
constant input this project could not have been completed, and to the Ger-
man-American Fulbright Commission for supporting my research in Marburg
for two years. I am very grateful to Dr. Martin Kraatz, the former director of
the Religionskundliche Sammlung, and to Mrs. Kraatz, for their generous
hospitalilty and their years of dedication to the Sammlung and to the study of
religion. Earlier versions of material contained in this book were presented in
papers delivered to the Schleiermacher Group and the History of the Study of
Religion Group of the American Academy of Religion. Thanks are due to
Professors Dr. Gregory Alies, Dr. h.c. mult. Kurt Rudolf and Dr. Rainer
Flasche for their comments on material from various chapters. I am grateful
to Professor Dr. Walther Ch. Zimmerli for allowing me to participate in his
graduate student colloquim in the Philosophy Department at Marburg, and to
his students, Dorothea Wildenburg, Christian Lötz, Joachim Landkammer,
Thomas Wolf, and Rainer Kattel for their feedback and friendship. Finally, I
would like to thank my parents for their years of support, and, above all, my
wife Kathy for bearing with me through a long period of labor. The follow-
ing pages are dedicated to her.
List of Abbreviations
(See Bibliography for complete references.)
AWT Otto, "Autonomie der Werte und Theonomie," Aufsätze zur Ethik
CPR Kant, Critique of Pure Reason
CJ Kant, Critique of Judgment
DH Otto, Das Heilige (Munich: Beck, 1991)
EAG Otto, Zur Erneuerung und Ausgestaltung des Gottesdienstes
E Otto, "Ethik I" (OA 2282)
F Otto, "Fortsetzung [zur Glaubenslehre]" (OA 2292)
G Otto, "Glaubenslehre I" (OA 2295)
GÜ Otto, Das Gefühl des Überweltlichen (sensus numinis)
KFR Otto, Kantisch-Fries 'sehe Religionsphilosophie
MR Otto, "Mythus und Religion in Wundts Völkerpsychologie"
OR Schleiermacher, Speeches on Religion
PN Otto, "Pflicht und Neigung," Aufsätze zur Ethik
RGM Otto, Reich Gottes und Menschensohn
SG Otto, "Sittengesetz und Gotteswille" (OA 2288)
SU Otto, Sünde und Urschuld
ÜR Otto, Remarks appended to Otto's edition the Speeches
WA Otto, "Wertgesetz und Autonomie," Aufsätze zur Ethik
WWR Otto, "Wert, Würde und Recht," Aufsätze zur Ethik