SOURCE: "Rudolf Otto and The Idea of the Holy," in Types of Religious Experience Christian and Non-Christian, The University of Chicago Press, 1951, pp. 209-27.

In the following essay, Wach presents an overview of Otto's life, works, and impact on modern European theology.

Two theological books profoundly impressed the generation of students which populated the German universities after the First World War: the Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans by Karl Barth and The Idea of the Holy by Rudolf Otto. It is not without significance that these were both books which made considerable demands on their readers. The effect of the work of Barth might be called sensational. This, however, did not prevent it from being not only a widespread but also a profound one, as the last three decades have demonstrated. While there was, even shortly after its publication, much talk of 'Barthians', and a Barthian...