Exploring Religious Ideas: Durkheim, Otto, and Sociological Insights

This essay provides a comprehensive response to the ideas presented by Émile Durkheim in "The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life" and Rudolf Otto in "The Idea of the Holy." The introduction highlights the significance of sociological ideologies in understanding human behavior and societal values. The essay delves into Durkheim's perspective on religion as a fundamental aspect of societal cohesion, emphasizing the role of shared beliefs and rituals in fostering emotional security and communal living. It discusses Durkheim's analysis of totems and the concept of the sacred, concluding that religion is a unifying mechanism of practices and beliefs. The essay then explores Otto's concept of the 'numinous,' an emotional experience at the heart of religious experience, distinct from moral perfection. It examines how Otto defended religion against naturalism and his influence on religious thought. The conclusion underscores the enduring influence of religious thought on sociological fields and emphasizes the human tendency to attribute occurrences to metaphysical elements. The essay concludes by highlighting the importance of understanding the relationship between objects, emotions, and the broader context of human communities.

Running head: RESPONSE TO TEXTS ON RELIGION
Response to texts on religion
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Emilie Durkheim and “The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life”...........................................2
Rudolf Otto and his work titled “The Idea of the Holy”.................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References:......................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
The human civilization is governed by certain values and traditions which forms an
important part of the society. In fact, it is such customs and values which imparts a particular
character to the community if the people, distinguishing one society from that of another. The
sociological ideologies have been in existence since days immemorial. Such ideologies have the
main intention to understand the behavior of the individuals in the sense that they aim to examine
how one individual deals or communicate with another person based on their sociological
differences. The purpose of this paper is to respond to the ideas as espoused by Emile Durkheim
in her book titled “The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life” and that of Rudolf Otto in his
work titled “The Idea of the Holy”. The paper concludes with the idea that the understanding of
the sociological ideas is necessary for the effective analysis of the human civilization and the
manner in which it interacts.
Emilie Durkheim and “The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life”
Emilie Durkheim is considered to be one of the most significant sociologist in the field of
human science (Home.ku.edu.tr, 1995). He wrote a book in 1912, titled “The Elementary Forms
of the Religious Life” which tries to understand the human society through the lens of religion
(Home.ku.edu.tr, 1995). Durkheim is of the idea that the development and growth of religion is
necessary for the emotional security which can be attained through communal living.
In this respect, the idea of religion needs to be analyzed. Religion refers to the believe
system which exists in the society, attributed to the presence of the image of God
(Home.ku.edu.tr, 1995). Individuals of the community are of the idea that God is a supreme
being who is transcendental in nature. He is all powerful and omnipotent in the sense that God

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can do nothing wrong. The teachings of God are a creation of the religious leaders of the society
who try to instill a sense of reverence and respect among the followers of the particular religion
with the hope of bringing about a change in the lives of the followers (Home.ku.edu.tr, 1995). In
this respect, Durkheim was of the idea that the individuals who ascribe to a particular religion
needs to be living together so that they can understand the dictates of their religious order to try
to adhere by them in an effective manner. Their fellow followers would try to encourage them in
the process of adherence to the religious teachings and the doctrines.
Emilie Durkheim is known for the study of the totems of the societies in Australia. Such
studies led to the conclusion that the plant or the animal which was being worshipped by the clan
as a sacred object was by the wishes of the community itself (Home.ku.edu.tr, 1995). In this
context, Durkheim posed the question that if the totem object in the form of animal or plant is a
symbol of God and the human civilization, is not God and society considered to be the same
(Home.ku.edu.tr, 1995).
As stated by Durkheim, the human beings of the early society considered their feelings
and emotions to be associated with one another and also with that of the animals and other living
objects in the society (Home.ku.edu.tr, 1995). This gave rise to the idea of toteism as it led to the
ascription of the emotions of the individuals and their super human powers with the concerned
objects. The essence of religion can be found in the idea of the sacred and it is the only
phenomenon which is considered to unite the various religions of the world (Home.ku.edu.tr,
1995). Thus, in accordance with the idea of Durkheim, religion refers to a unified mechanism of
the practices and beliefs of the society which are related to the sacred objects. It is such practices
and beliefs which unite the individuals of the society in to one single moral community known as
the Church and it includes all those who adhere to the religious intentions.

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In this context, it needs to be noted that in the article written by Emilie Durkheim titled
“The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life” has tried to place the aspect of religion within the
objects which are found on the surface of the earth (Home.ku.edu.tr, 1995). According to
Durkheim, the living beings such as that of plants or animals and other objects which are
considered to be sacred by the people of the community are worshipped. The individuals are of
the idea that they are the representation of God on world (Home.ku.edu.tr, 1995). This article is
also valuable to understand the extent of penetration of religion in to the lives of the people.
They attribute any indescribable changes in the society to that the supernatural being. Thus, it
can be summed up that the society is neither logical nor illogical in its nature. It is rather, a
collective system of the consciousness of the people. Thus, the image of any society in the world
is dependent on such consciousness and the objects which govern them. These objects have been
termed by Durkheim as totems (Home.ku.edu.tr, 1995). The consciousness of the individuals are
placed outside the scope of logic and it takes in to consideration the essential and the permanent
aspect of the societies which occur in the form of communicable ideas and thoughts. At every
point of time, the society tries to embrace the realities of nature. The religious aspect of nature is
found to be imbedded in the consciousness of the people and the objects which are worshipped
by the people (Home.ku.edu.tr, 1995).
Rudolf Otto and his work titled “The Idea of the Holy”
Rudolf was a German philosopher who ascribed to the Lutheran philosophy and way of
life. He is considered to be one of the most influential advocators of the theory of religion of the
twentieth century (Ia800300.us.archive.org, 1930). He believed in the aspect of ‘numinous’
which is an emotional experience considered to be at the heart of the religions of the world. He

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sought to defend the religion of the world against the belief of naturalism and its critique in the
society.
One of the most well renowned works of Rudolf Otto was that of the “Idea of the Holy”.
It was first published in 1917 in Germany and is considered to be among the most successful
theological books of German in the twentieth century (Ia800300.us.archive.org, 1930). Within
the book, Otto stated that the idea of the ‘holy’ is often sued to propound an image of something
sacred and transcendental which is ethereal in nature. However, the idea of moral perfection is
not the only element contained in the concept of the ‘holy’ (Ia800300.us.archive.org, 1930). It
includes other characteristics too which are beyond the sphere of ethics. In this book, he first
used the term ‘numinous’ which signifies ‘divine power’. This terminology has its base in the
ideas of Kant whereby he used it to refer to the unknown reality outlining the sensations of the
worldly objects. According to Otto, the numinous is considered to be a non-sensory ad non-
rational experience or emotion whose immediate and main purpose is contained outside of the
given self (Ia800300.us.archive.org, 1930). Otto opined that the ethereal nature of the numinous
could not be defined or characterized by any experience or concept. It depended on the audience
to formulate their own opinions and state of mind until they reached the point where the divine
power contained in them began to be awakened.
In response to the book written by Otto, Mark Wynn had stated that “The Idea of the
Holy” fell within a given paradigm within the philosophy of feelings and emotions
(Ia800300.us.archive.org, 1930). They are observed to include the element of perception with an
epistemic and intrinsic value which are neither found to be mediated by the presence of thoughts
nor an effective response to the physiological factors. In this context, it can be seen that Otto
understood that religious experience flowed from an independent phenomenological content

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instead of being an intrinsic response to the values and beliefs within the field of divine reality.
Otto was successful to apply this model to the field of religion in particular as he felt that it was
qualitatively different from the different emotions faced by the individuals
(Ia800300.us.archive.org, 1930).
In this respect, it can be seen that the Otto had outlined a paradigm for the study of
religious thought which emphasized on the importance of realization of religion as a non-
reducible and original category in itself (Ia800300.us.archive.org, 1930). It was from his idea
that an American philosopher of religion, named Mircea Eliade stared his own work, titled “The
Sacred and the Profane”. However, the paradigm which was formulated by Otto and Eliade
underwent heavy criticism as they viewed the field of religion to be ‘sui generis’ in context.
However, it was after 1990 that the paradigm saw a resurgence of its phenomenological aspects
as they became more apparent. Otto is known for his emphasis on the understanding of the field
of religion through the lens of cross cultural as he believed that religious thoughts exist in almost
all the cultures of the world (Ia800300.us.archive.org, 1930). There is therefore, the need to
make a comparative study of such strands of thought.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be seen that the field of religious thought and its influence on the
sociological field has been in existence on the human civilization since its inception. Human
beings are considered to be the only rational living organisms in the world since they have the
ability to undertake critical thinking ability and rationalizing their thought process. However, this
does not mean that the emotions of the individuals can be over looked. The people of the society
have always tried to attribute the strange occurrences or events to the aspect of something
metaphysical. In other words, before the growth in knowledge and rational thinking, people

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believed in the image of God and the fact that God had the superhuman ability to resolve all
wrongs occurring in the community. In this respect, the writings of the various sociologists and
philosophers particularly those of Emilie Durkheim and Rudolf Otto emphasized on the
influential role played by religion in dictating the lives of the people. Thus, the paper has focused
on how the individuals of the society are able to find relation to their metaphysical image of God
through the presence of objects and emotions in the broader context of the human community.

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References:
Home.ku.edu.tr. (1995). [online] Available at:
http://home.ku.edu.tr/~mbaker/cshs503/durkheimreligiouslife.pdf [Accessed 21 Feb. 2020].
Ia800300.us.archive.org. (1930). [online] Available at:
https://ia800300.us.archive.org/10/items/theideaoftheholy00ottouoft/
theideaoftheholy00ottouoft.pdf [Accessed 21 Feb. 2020].