Eating the menu

I’ve never read Rudolph Otto‘s 1917 book “The Idea of the Holy,” but it sounds like Western Christians have something to learn from him. Otto might say that much conventional orthodoxy and theology is like going to a restaurant and eating the menu. Otto pointed out that Christians tend to “flatten out” their faith, to make it more tame and manageable. Sounds to me like a religious shampoo/conditioner. Instead, Otto sought a mystical excitement in religious experience that was missing from 20th century Protestantism. It seems to be largely missing from 21st century Christianity as well. Would you like cardboard with that, sir?

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