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Embracing the Mystery of the Divine A common thread I find among C.S. Lewis’ books The Magician’s Nephew, Till We Have Faces, and The Pilgrim’s Regress is the wild, humbling, yet trustworthy nature of the divine in its interaction with the human main characters. This sounds similar to Rudolf Otto’s concept of “the numinous,” expressed through the Latin phrase mysterium tremendum et fascinans, which is the fearful and fascinating mystery of “the holy.” This essay considers how experiences of mysterium tremendum et fascinans redirect human suffering, longing, and complaint into a deeper understanding of the inscrutable, yet trustworthy God.
Gregory D. Jones, Jr.
Greg Jones is a PTS Junior, son of Tina Jones and the Sunday School Superintendent at First Baptist Church of Bridgeville, PA.