Durham E-Theses The work of Rudolf Otto and its relevance to religious education in Britain at the present time Minney, Robin How to cite: Minney, Robin (1993) The work of Rudolf Otto and its relevance to religious education in Britain at the present time, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/5550/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Robin Minney. "THE WORK OF RUDOLF OTTO AND ITS RELEVANCE TO RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN BRITAIN AT THE PRESENT TIME" Ph.D. thesis, University of Durham, 1993. ABSTRACT Rudolf Otto (1869-1937) was brought up in circles of Lutheran piety, and looked for the meeting point of academic theology and religious experience. Deeply influenced by mystics like Eckhart, he sought a solution with the help of the philosopher Kant, the theologian Schleiermacher, and the psychologist William James. He found the locus of encounter with the numinous within the human heart (Gemtit), thus proposing humanity as the starting point for the study of religion without reducing it to psychology or denying its reality as transcendent. More recent studies of children's transcendent experiences make it impossible to draw a line between those that are religious and secular ones, a state of affairs implied by the call in the Education Act for 'spiritual development.' A neutral stance is needed for the study of religion in a secular context, e.g. religious education in Britain, yet without denying its validity as religion. A new understanding of Otto's 'schematisation' discloses the relation between rational and non-rational, as well as that between the numinous in essence and its manifestations. Recent interest in Experiential R.E. makes the application of Otto's approach timely, but schematisation rightly applied also offers a dialogical wholeness to all aspects of R.E. Robin P. Minney The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Durham, Department of Theology 1993 CONTENTS Note on references and abbreviations iv Preface viii Introduction 1 Chapter I Setting the Scene . 4 1.1 Otto the man . 4 1.2 Otto's book The Idea of the Holy 12 1.3 Current directions in R E . 20 1.4 Criticism of Otto's position 27 Notes to Chapter One 38 Chapter II Consistency and development through Otto's main publications 41 2.1 Why Otto seems inconsistent 41 2.2 Otto's first publication 46 2.3 Otto's edition of Schleiermacher's Reden 50 2.4 Darwinism, Naturalism and Religion 51 2.5 Otto's Philosophy of Religion 56 2.6 The Idea of the Holy 67 2.6.1 The religious a priori 69 2.6.2 How Otto used 'schematisation' 84 2.7 Indian writings 98 2.8 Liturgical proposals and experiments 109 2.9 Writing on ethics 110 2.10 Last conversations . 116 Notes to Chapter Two 119 i Chapter III Sources for Otto's thought 127 3.1 Eckhart 127 3.2 Kant . 136 3.3 Schleiermacher 147 3.4 Fries 166 3.5 Ritschl 172 3.6 William James . 176 Notes to Chapter Three 200 Chapter IV Is transcendent experience religious? 207 4.1 Researching experience . 210 4.2 How to classify transcendent experiences 213 4.3 Raw experience and interpreted experience 227 4.4 Describing transcendent experiences 237 4.5 Religious experience and knowledge 244 4.6 Communicating and preparing for religious experience 251 4.7 The results of transcendent experiences 253 Notes to Chapter Four . 257 Chapter V Experiential methods in Religious Education 259 5.1 New directions in religious education . 259 5.2 The human and the spiritual 265 5.3 The process curriculum - pupil-centred R.E. 273 5.4 Schematisation applied to R.E. 285 5.5 Is there progression in religious development? 292 Notes to Chapter Five 304 Chapter VI Conclusions 307 Notes to Chapter Six 317 Bibliography 318 ii The material contained in this thesis has not previously been submitted by me for a degree in this or any other university. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. iii A note on references and abbreviations Where texts are available in English and in German I have usually given double references, using the editions listed in the Bibliography and abbreviated titles as shown below. The page number appears exactly as in the text, either in Hindo­ Arabic or Roman numerals, and these either large or small as in the work referred to. In references to works printed in numbered columns, e.g. Die Christliche Welt, the number refers to the column. To achieve a more accurate reference on the page (or column), I have used the letters a, band c after the page number, denoting roughly the top third, middle third, or bottom third of the printed page. But on a page of two columns which are not each numbered, the page is divided into quarters, using a and b for the first column, c and d for the second. In the case of Pfeiffer (1857 & 1962) each page has numbered lines, so the reference is to page followed by line numbers. In quoting excerpts from texts, I have followed the spelling used (unless otherwise stated). Thus texts from Eckhart and from Pfeiffer do not use capital letters to begin substantives as in modern German, and texts from American writers, such as William James and Crouter's translation of Schleiermacher's Reden, have American spellings (e.g. center for centre). The same applies to the "-ize" ending for words which I myself always spell with "-ise". Abbreviations have been used for Otto's works frequently cited, and for other works which are used in particular sections, as well as for well-known journals. Otherwise books and articles are referred to by author and date and can be found in the Bibliography. In all cases the edition being referred to is noted for ease of reference. iv Books by Otto: AHG Die Anschauung vom heiligen Geist bei Luther. Ein historisch-dogmatisch Untersuchung, G6ttingen, 1898 ANB Aufsatze das Numinose betreffend, Gotha 1923 AzE Aufsatze zur Ethik, hrsg. von Jack Stewart Boozer, Mlinchen, C H Beck, 1981 DH Das Heilige (1st ed. Breslau 1917). page refs are to the 1987 edition, Mlinchen. ET=IH. DuR Darwinismus und Religion, G6ttingen, 1909 GGA Gottheit und Gottheiten der Arier. GieJ3en, Alfred T6pelmann, 1932 GMS Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten, von I.Kant, neu herausgegeben von Rudolf Otto, Gotha, 1930 GRIC Die Gnadenreligion Indiens und das Christentum, Gotha, 1930, ET=IRG IH The Idea of the Holy (1st ed. London, 1923). page refs are to OUP paperback 1958 and reprints. ET of DH by John W. Harvey. IRG India's Religion of Grace and Christianity, ET of GRIC by Frank Hugh Foster DD, London, SCM Press 1930 KFR Kantisch-Fries'sche Religionsphilosophie und ihre Anwendung auf die Theologie, Tlibingen, 1909 (also appeared in ZThK 1909) ET=PR MEW Mysticism East and West, A Comparative Analysis of the Nature of Mysticism, ET of W6M by Bertha L Bracey and Richenda C Payne, London, Macmillan & Co, 1932 NaR Naturalism and Religion, London, 1911 and 1913. ET of NRW by J. Arthur Thomson and Margaret R. Thomson. NRW Naturalistische und religi6se Weltansicht, Tlibingen, 1904, 1929. ET=NaR PR The Philosophy of Religion based on Kant and Fries, London, 1931. ET of KFR by E. B. Dicker. RE Religious Essays, a supplement to the Idea of the Holy, London, 1931. ET of some essays in Aufsatze das Numinose betreffend by Brian Lunn. Partial overlap with su. Reden Ober die Religion. Reden an die Gebildeten unter i~en v VerAchtern. Von Friedrich Schleiermacher, ed. R. Otto, Gottingen, 1899, 1926 (5th ed), 1967 (6th ed.) SU Slinde und Urschuld und andere AufsAtze zur Theologie, Mtinchen, 1932. Essays in this book and in Das Geflihl des Oberweltlichen (Mlinchen, 1932) had previously appeared in ANB, partial ET in RE. WoM West-Ostliche Mystik. Vergleich und Unterscheidung zur Wesensdeutung, Gotha, 1926, 1929, third edition 1971 revised and edited by Gustav Mensching, Mlinchen, Beck 1971, ET=MEW ZEAG Zur Erneuerung und Ausges tal tung des Got tesdiens tes, Giel3en, 1925 Other books and periodicals: C. C. Colpe (ed.) Die Diskussion urn das "Heilige" Darmstadt, 1977 CW Die Christliche Welt loG Intellekt oder Gemlit? von Joseph Geyser, Freiburg im Breisgau, 1922 K-S Kant-Studien MTS Marburger Theologische Studien RET David Hay Religious Experience Today, studying the facts, London, Mowbray, 1990 SoF James W. Fowler Stages of Faith - The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning, San Francisco, Harper & Row, 1981. ThLZ Theologische Literaturzeitung VRE The Varieties of Religious Experience, William James, Longmans Green & Co, 1902 and reprints; Collins, Fontana edition 1960 and reprints.