Encountering the Numinous

The big news these past weeks about the new Anglican Rite (Anglicanorum Coetibus) made me think about, perhaps the most well-read Anglican of all, C.S. Lewis.  In the Introduction of his book, The Problem of Pain he posits that all religions have three things in common and Christianity, one more. 

The first attribute, which he calls "numinous awe," is a certain dread, fear or awe which follows on the heels of being aware that the universe is made up not only of the material, that is, the things that we can know by our five senses, but also of something supernatural which of course is God.

The second attribute is a sense that right and wrong are intuitively known and not taught.  We have an innate sense of what we ought and what we ought not do.

The third attribute is an awakening that the first two attributes are somehow connected.  We know what we ought to do because we reason that God has willed it to be that way.

The fourth attribute is unique to Christianity and will be discussed in a later post.  Stay tuned.