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world which do not fit the model, then the model becomes "worldviews", though the distinction between religious and non-reli- gious worldviews is still precariously maintained. This approach makes it impossible for the phenomenologist to explain why we need to make a distinction between, say, Islam (real religion) and Maoism (religion-like); nor how to deal adequately with institutions in non- western societies which can be described as ritual, political, eco- nomic, technological, magical, fitting few of our modern western categories satisfactorily. It seems perfectly legitimate that the criterion for inclusion in a festschrift should be simply that one was a student of the honoured scholar. But what else holds these scholars and specialisms together? If, for example, I had been a student of Smart's, and my area of specialism was not, say, international trade regulations or Russian government investment policy or comparative medieval law or con- cepts of adultery and female sexuality in eighteenth-century Maha- rashtra, would a contribution on such subjects be excluded or in- cluded ? One could not get any clear idea from reading this book how such a decision would be made.

Aichi-Gakuin University, Japan

Rudolf Otto, Autobiographical and Social Essays, ed. and trans. Gregory D. Alles. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1996. vii + 298 pp. ISBN 3-11-014519-7. DM 68.00

PHILIP C. ALMOND

This book is an invaluable addition to the surprisingly small amount of writing in English on Rudolf Otto-surprising not least because every student of religion knows of The Idea of the Holy, of the numinous experience, and of the mysterium tremendum et fascinans, yet few have read beyond the first few chapters of Das Heilige, have read Otto on the mysticism of Eckhart and Shankara, or on India's religion of grace. A larger number of scholars are familiar with the philosophical and theological underpinnings of Rudolf Otto's work. But even then there are many for whom Otto's corpus is like its focus, and to some extent its author-"wholly other". And while many of us who have worked closely on Otto have been aware of his many this-worldly REVIEWS 239 interests, we have, I suspect, placed them in the too hard basket and focussed too exclusively on the other-worldly charms of the numen. But no more. For it is the aim of Alles' collection to show the way Otto's scholarship was part of a much broader public programme, as a result of which Otto's "comparative study of religions encapsulated the political loyalties of a religiously committed, politically active, moderate left-liberal" (1). This collection of previously untranslated Ottoniana falls into five parts: autobiographical fragments, political essays, essays that focus on Otto's extensive involvement with the Church, and two essays that represent his Otto's final reflections on ethics. These are emi- nently readable, not merely because of the intrinsic interest of com- ing across bits of unknown writings of Otto, and not only because of the reward of discovering for oneself an unknown or at least a half- suspected Otto, but also because they are very fine translations. Any- one who has wrestled with Otto's German style will know what I mean. The translations are preceded by an introduction which, bet- ter than any other I know, details his impact on his contemporaries, and his influence on those who came after. So the Otto that emerges from this collection is a richer Otto, and I might say a warmer Otto than the severe ascetic whose profile graces the dust covers of some German editions of The Idea of the Holy, and who was known as "Das Heilige" by the many who found him perhaps more tremendum than fascinans. The letters from North Africa, India, Egypt, and Greece continue to delight. The Otto of the Reli- gious League for Humanity, and Church Offices for Women is a man before his time. The Otto of a service to celebrate the Father- land in 1925 is a little more troubling to those who view it from our retrospective. But the Otto who believed that liberal political and ecclesiastical policies, with a hint of economic socialism, best fostered religious feelings can be inspiring: "spiritual energy will reach the greatest heights and religion will enter its greatest age, when human- ity first achieves a balance of power in political and social realms. Then spiritual energy will be free to permeate all of human life, from the external to the internal. The kingdom of God lies before us, not behind us" (252) Inspiring? yes, but in 1919, perhaps a little naively optimistic. Otto was a man of his time. But by no stretch of the imagination was he-theologically speaking-the man of his time. Barth and Bultmann ruled, the latter in Otto's own university. He was both too