Religious Experience as an Response to the Crisis of Historicism : Ernst Troeltsch and Marburger Hermeneutics:Rudolf Otto, Rudolf Bultmann, Martin Heidegger and Hans Georg Gadamer

What is religion? is one of the most fundamental questions that human beings have because religious phenomenon has always existed in human life and society, and people have been asking this question for a long time. However, we were not able to answer this question, nor could we know the origin of the word religion either. Ambiguity of the language, there are many theories about religion in history after human being, but none of the theories gives the clear answer on the question a What is religion?a . It means, religion remains the unknown area for us even human lives in the 21st century. If cannot give answer to 'what is religion', how do we understand and explain about religion? As stated earlier, religion and religious experience have always existed in human life and society so if want to know about religion, must change the question to a what is a religious experience?a and a who can going to have a religious experience?a . By the way, here is a dilemma because call it as religious experience is someone already has experienced. Religious experience only exist someone has made a religious experience in their life. In other words, it is a life event of someone. However, everyone cannot have religious experience during their life. Someone may have, but someone may not have religious experience. Of course, it makes different meaning of life between both and makes inevitable difference will cause disconnection of communication. Also, it breaks the possibility of understanding between both. In other words, it cannot easy to find the possibility of understanding between ontology of event and semantics of action. In this essay, made three subjects to find and explain the possibility of understanding about religious experiences and religious phenomena. 1.First of all, about the problems of historicism on objectification and valuation. Religious experience can only exist, if the object understands experience as a religious experience. In other words, religious phenomenon is a very personal and subjective experience and each person has different value for it. The problem of relativism was not only limitation to study of religion, but rather it was a great stream that influenced all sciences and human minds of the 19th century. If can overcome the problem of relativism in order to explain and understand the religious experience, the religious experience can be one of the answers to the crisis of historicism. First focus on Troeltsch 's Work a Der Historismus und seine Problemea , which deals with his definition of modern concepts and his reconstruction of theological and philosophical development in modern times. 2.Second theme is what religious experiences and how can be explained. In daily life, people always experience something 'naturally' whether know or not. Religious experience is one of the categories of human experience. If the holy appears into people, can encounter a religious experience in anywhere like in the home and on the street. In other words, it means everything can be religious experience. Eliade describes it as a dialectic of the sacred and the profanea . Living experience and religious experience are experiences of human life. Last of all, explain the both experience through the religious conceptions of Rudolf Otto, Max Scheler, Van der Leeuw and Mircea Eliade, then try to find possibility of understanding about religious experience. To understanding religious experience, phenomenology of religion is inevitably consistent with hermeneutics. For that reason, this essay explains the 'ontological hermeneutics' of religious phenomenology to overcome the relativistic structure of religious experience. 3.Third theme explains ontological hermeneutics to understand human cognitive structures. Marburg's hermeneutics, especially Gadamer, explains how overcomes the crisis of historicism and historicity through ontological interpretation in his writes a The true and methoda . He defined the human world as a a linguistically constructed worlda based on the ontological idea of a In-der-Welt-Seina in Heidegger's theory. Humans using language and communication by language understanding. Language makes people difference from all other beings. Gadamer emphasizes pointed understand hermeneutical experiences through dialogue. So Gadamer thinks language as a carrier of understanding and he explains that language is the universal mediator of experience. It means, language is communication path between myself and the world, between myself and the religion. By language, people can understand and explain their living experience and religious experience, and then it makes my God to be everyonea s God