Analogical religious language: Aquinas

Question 1

How can religious language be argued as analogical?

Answer 1

• statements about God are not to be understood literally

- you can compare God to things in the world.

Question 2

The 3 types of religious language Aquinas rejects

Answer 2

• via negativa
• univocal language
• equivocal language

Question 3

Via negativa

Answer 3

This religious language suggests that people can only talk about God in negative terms

Question 4

Why can’t univocal language be used?

Answer 4

• none of God’s creations equate to him

- we are of different order so language used univocally is inadequate and leads us to misunderstanding his true nature.

Question 5

What are the two ways for why equivocal language can’t be used?

Answer 5

• if we have no terms of reference to help us understand the meaning of the words, they would be meaningless
• also God’s creation does obviously reveal something about God’s nature

Question 6

The quote that epitomises the use of analogy

Answer 6

“accurate without being comprehensive.”

Question 7

What is Aquinas’ theory based on (out of his own work)?

Answer 7

The second of his five ways to illustrate God’s existence in that every effect must have a cause.

Question 8

What is the cause of human language?

Answer 8

• caused by God and must be a reflection of him

Question 9

What are concepts of love in the world caused by then?

Answer 9

Because God’s creation are a reflection of him, it means concepts like love are just reflections of God’s love.

Question 10

What does Aquinas say we can do if it is true that God’s creation is a reflection of him?

Answer 10

We could talk about God analogically

Question 11

Why can we compare ourselves with God?

Answer 11

He is an efficient cause. The cause must have characteristics that it passes on to its effect.

Question 12

Therefore, what could we do if we were talking about God’s love?

Answer 12

We could make reference to human understanding of love

Question 13

Why is it we can speak about God’s love only analogically?

Answer 13

It is similar to the human concept of love, but also different because God’s love is greater than the human concept of love.

Question 14

What are you actually saying when you say ‘God is loving?’

Answer 14

• not saying I fully understand God’s love by comparing it to a mother’s love for her child
• however, I am saying God’s love is similar to the human concept of love.

Question 15

Because God is an efficient cause, what does it mean about goodness?

Answer 15

Because God is good, he is the source of goodness.

Question 16

What is Davies’ analogy?

Answer 16

• the baker’s goodness spreads into his lovely loaf of bread.
• the bread is the baker’s creation and the bread’s goodness reflects the baker’s skill
• the baker isn’t ‘soft and tasty’ but causes the bread to be this way.

Question 17

Why is it possible to draw meaningful analogies between God and humanity?

Answer 17

• because human attributes ultimately come from God and therefore must be a reflection of him.

Question 18

What does the analogy of proportion state?

Answer 18

That beings have attributes in proportion to the kind of reality that being possesses.

Question 19

An example of the analogy of proportion

Answer 19

Manchester City playing well is different to Bradford City playing well. The language is relative to its context.

Question 20

Goodness in the analogy of proportion

Answer 20

• humans can be good, in proportion of being human. Limited by the general limitations of human ability.
• God’s goodness is in proportion to him. Described by Aquinas as ‘perfectly good’.