Editing Religious experience (section)

===Rudolf Otto===
The German philosopher and theologian [[Rudolf Otto]] (1869–1937) argues that there is one common factor to all religious experience, independent of the cultural background. In his book ''[[The Idea of the Holy]]'' (1923) he identifies this factor as the [[numinous]]. The "numinous" experience has two aspects:
* ''mysterium tremendum'', which is the tendency to invoke fear and trembling;
* ''mysterium fascinans'', the tendency to attract, fascinate and compel.

The numinous experience also has a personal quality to it, in that the person feels to be in communion with a holy other. Otto sees the numinous as the only possible religious experience. He states: "There is no religion in which it [the numinous] does not live as the real innermost core and without it no religion would be worthy of the name".{{sfn|Otto|1972}} Otto does not take any other kind of religious experience such as ecstasy and enthusiasm seriously and is of the opinion that they belong to the 'vestibule of religion'.