The Common and the theological understanding of sacrum

Abstract

The world in the common culture is divided into the sacrum and profanum. The scheme is rooted in sociological attempts at describing experiences and religious attitudes. The theoreticians such as: F.E. D. Schleiermacher, R. Otto, E. Durkheim, M. Scheler, J. Wach, M. Eliade addressed those subjects. In fact, in many cases people experience the world and themselves in such a way that they introduce categories that are not always based on the sources of their religious beliefs and theological reflection. That is the peculiar “mystification,” which facilitates the social discourse and functioning. The phenomenon of cultural dualism needs description, as it is justified to ask what people want to express, when using the notions of the sacrum and profanum?

The notions of “holiness” and being “holy” always produced in effect of “taboo” and, at the same time, were subject to devaluation. On the other hand, many people believed their world to be “flat;” devoid of any special reference points. We may ask whether the essence of religion is the subjective experience of “holiness.” Is there a form of revelation that uncovers indirect and direct phenomena of “deity” and “holiness”? Is there the profanum — the objective world order devoid of “holiness” that is exclusive; the order of restraint and opposite to what is described as sacrum that a person may “disdain,” and “profane”?

What shall the notion of the sacrum relate to? There is a category apt to define the “specific,” “non-reducible” in question. In a revealed religion the category of the sacrum — “holy” is usually reserved for God. If we depart from the sociological notion of sacrum and use the Biblical one as a synonym, the latter will exceed the experiences and relate to what is external, manifested in theophany, e.g. on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19, 3-20). Being holy does not denote God as a transcendental being nor its mode of action. It is rather the “ultimate rule,” a “source of creation.” For Christians it is also the “presence” revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. “Holy” is manifested in history. But similarly as the “Divine Grace” evades definition, the “Holy of Israel” cannot be defined. Only replacement descriptions are possible. The Triune Holy God is the force, foundation, deliverance, and relates to everything that God as the “fullness of life,” “might and good” holds up in his never exhausted wealth. In religious systems, the holiness of God is also the norm of the morals. In theological approach, each of God’s attributes forms its essence. Simultaneously, the category of holiness is, in praxis, related to different persons, places, times or items. In this way different aspects connected with the category of sacrum present ontological, semiotic and pragmatic problems.