A Critical Review on the Book Mysticism, East and West by Rudolf Otto

Summary

Rudolf Otto's book, Mysticism, East and West, explores the connections between Eastern and Western mysticism, emphasizing their kinship. Otto uses the term 'Nominus/Sacred' to bridge these traditions beyond historical and geographical confines. The work builds on his earlier ideas from 1923 and presents a comparative analysis of mystics like Hindu Shankara and Christian Eckhart to enhance understanding of religious truths.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The book Mysticism, East and West by Rudolf Otto, is one of the most important examples of comparative studies of mysticism in the world. The discussion of the East and the West and how they relate to each other is at least for Otto one of the pillars of the philosophy of religion that has been reflected in this book. Otto sees mysticism as the kinship of the east and west. The term “Nominus/ Sacred”, more than anything else, makes it possible for the Eastern-Western look to be used because it can go beyond the history and geography of religions. The nature of the western-eastern philosophy of the comparative religion of Otto first appeared in 1923, in the form of the book of the Holy Idea: The study of the irrational factor in the idea of the divinity and its relation to the rational, and then published more widely and deeply in the Mysticism, East and West, published in 1926. The book, reminding Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s famous book titled West–östlicher Divan (West–Eastern Diwan), discusses mysticism as a phenomenon that is East-West in its nature. Explaining this Western-Eastern phenomenon, Otto compares the Hindu Mystic Shankara to represent eastern mysticism and the Christian Mystic Eckhart to represent western mysticism and seeks to provide a model for understanding the truth of the religion and comparing religious thinkers.

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