Apophatic and Cataphatic use of religious language Flashcards
what is meant by cataphatic?
use of positive language to talk about God/the divine
also called via positivia
what is meant by apophatic language?
use of negative language to talk about the divine, nothing positive can be said about God
- seeks to understand God through negation, recognising the limitations of human language and reason in describing the divine.
also called via negativa
what is meant by cognitive language
where it is appropriate to ask whether a statement is true or false
what is meant by non-cognitive language?
where it is not appropriate to ask whether a statement is true or false
what did Igne argue to counter via negativa
-said it was too narrow
-how long can you discuss what god is not
surely this will result in an ‘annihilation’ of both God and humanity due to reductionism
-A christian God is immanent in the lives of believers - surely something positive can be said about this
who adheres to via positiva and what is its main origin?
Aquinas and St Augustine
Western Christianity
What did Maimonides say against via positiva?
dangers of anthropomorphising God, for he is beyond understanding
“we should not have the idea that the supreme being is corporeal, having a material body”
What did Aquinas say to criticise Via negativa
not against it but sympathetic to its proponents
god is beyond human understanding, but saying something about God is better than saying nothing at all
what does theosis refer to ?
achieving likeness and unity with God
What did Williams say about apophatic and cataphatic language?
‘in what way is apophasis not the same as the mystical ascent”
- both allow knowledge about the ineffability of God
- apophasis allows one to understand limits of human knowledge and develop humility
discussion about describing God is not the beginning of faith but rather follows from the original encounter
