Overview

This book provides an up-to-date treatment of Rudolf Otto and his work, placing him in the context of comparative religion, theology, and the philosophy of religion. Yoshitsugu Sawai shows how Otto has “three faces”: the Lutheran Theologian, the Philosopher of Religion, and the Comparative Religionist. The book also shows how, of these, Otto saw himself primarily as a Lutheran Theologian, and provides an account of Otto’s engagement with India and the centrality that Hindu theology had on his thinking. In Otto’s theory of religion, his well-known concepts including “wholly other” and “numinous” constitute a multiple structure of meaning. For example, his concept of the “wholly other” (das ganz Andere) no doubt has the meaning of “God” in his Christian theological studies. At the same time, however, from the perspective of comparative religion or the phenomenology of religion, this same term semantically implies the “ultimate reality” of other religious traditions; “Brahman” and “God” (Isvara) in Hindu religious tradition as well as “God” in Christianity.

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9781350259447

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Reviews

Rudolf Otto and the Foundation of the History of Religions brings to the English-reading public a comprehensive understanding of the life, intentions, and scholarly achievements of Rudolf Otto (1869-1937). Yoshitsugu Sawai's erudite study shows Otto to be not only a well-known scholar of comparative religion with a deep and lasting interest in India's Hindu traditions, but also a philosopher of religion and a dedicated Lutheran theologian. Generalizations about Otto can now be nuanced and corrected, so that we can better appreciate his contributions and their limits too. This is now the go-to work for understanding Otto. * Francis X. Clooney, SJ, Parkman Professor of Divinity, Harvard University, USA * This is a very important, even definitive, work on Otto; the author's erudition is evident throughout this engaging and well-written book. * Gavin Flood, Professor of Hindu Studies and Comparative Religion, Oxford University, UK * In this perceptive study, Yoshitsugu Sawai suggests that we reframe Otto's ideas in terms of the semantic analysis of the Japanese philosopher and scholar of religions, Toshihiko Izutsu. As a bonus, he draws attention to the work of Japanese scholars that are not generally accessible to English speakers. * Gregory Alles, Professor of Religious Studies, McDaniel College, USA *

Author Information

Yoshitsugu Sawai is Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies at Tenri University, Japan. He has published books and articles in both Japanese and English on the Vedanta philosophy of the Sankaran religious tradition, the “Oriental Philosophy” of the Japanese philosopher Toshihiko Izutsu, and Tenrikyo theology. His research interests include theories of comparative religion, Indian philosophy, and Tenrikyo theology.

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