Dr. Rudolf Otto was one of the most distinguished German theologians of the past century. Perhaps his best-known book was Das Heilige , which ran through ten editions in Germany before being published in an English translation in 1924 under the title, The Idea of the Holy . This work, originally published in German as Reichgottes und Menschensohn , created an even greater impression, and has had to be reckoned with in all subsequent studies of the person and work of Jesus Christ, particularly from the point of view of his Messianic self-consciousness. The first English translation was published in 1938 and the present volume is a reprint of the substantially revised edition of 1943.