4.Maltwood’s and Wenger’s work in Relation to Intrinsic and Extrinsic Origins of Religious Inspiration

In regard to the question of the sources and significance of religious ideas, the questions we shall ask shall be centered in an inquiry into to what degree the experiences, theories and practical preoccupations of Maltwood and Wenger corroborate or refute these conceptions of the source of religious conceptions as described by Otto and Armstrong.

To what degree do their work demonstrate an encounter with the “Wholly Other” as manifested in hierophanic encounters that compel the recognition of the conscious will of the presence of the sacred and to what degree do they represent the effort of the human mind to actualize for itself a sensitivity to, or, an apprehension of the sacred through the creation of aesthetic forms?

In other words, do their achievements demonstrate an intrinsic source as to the origin of their ideas as suggested by the focus of Armstrong’s theory on the creative capacities of the mind or do they suggest an extrinsic origin to their inspiration as indicated by Otto’s concept of hierophanic enlightenment?