Religious Language: Negative, Analogical or Symbolic Flashcards
What is the Via Negativa?
The idea that we cannot meaningfully say what God is; we can only say what God is not. It is also called the apophatic way.
What does Psuedo-Dionysius say about the Via Negativa?
As God is beyond our understanding, we cannot say what he is. By negation, Dionysius does not mean privation.
For example, if we say “God is not living”, it doesn’t mean God is dead. Rather, God exists beyond the living/dead distinction.
If God is beyond all language, then he is beyond all distinctions we can make.
What was Psuedo-Dionysius’ quote about the nature of God?
“Darkness and light, error and truth – it is none of these. It is beyond assertion and denial.”
How does Psuedo-Dionysius say we can know God better through the Via Negativa?
By realising our inadequacy in understanding God and breaking free of attempts to do so, we break free from our normal selves and its vain pursuit of knowledge.
One “knows beyond the mind by knowing nothing.” Therefore, the Via Negativa allows us to achieve a personal relationship with God, rather than just knowing facts about God.
The Via Negativa ensures that God is not anthropomorphised by refusing to give him characteristics understood by humans. How is this contentious in a Biblical context?
The Bible refers to God in positive terms. “God is love” and “God is spirit.” God even refers to himself as “a jealous God,” in Exodus 20:5. This suggests that the Via Positiva is valid in biblical terms and and the Via Negativa goes against the Bible.
COUNTER: Moses Maimonides argues that the Bible was written with limited human language, and that often, descriptors refer to God’s actions, not his personal attributes.
HOWEVER: The Bible itself gives no reason as to why it should be interpreted the way Maimonides suggests.
How could one argue that the Via Negativa is pessimistic?
It leaves humanity with the inability to say or understand anything about God. This consolidates God’s “otherness”, but it also diminishes the personal relationship with God that is important to many Christians.
HOWEVER: It could also be argued that this weakness is unsuccessful because Dionysius says that by accepting we know nothing about God, a personal relationship with him can flourish.
Why is Psuedo-Dionysius’ reference to “unity with God” a point of contention in his Via Negativa approach?
Dionysius is vague when he refers to the Via Negativa bringing about unity. Theologians debate what he means by unity with God, and ultimately unity is subjective.
What does ‘univocal’ mean and why does univocal language fail when talking about God?
Univocal - words have only one meaning. I.e. when I say God is loving, it means the same as when I say humans are loving.
Univocal language fails because God is beyond our comprehension, and we cannot ascribe human traits to him because he is unintelligible by nature.
What does ‘equivocal’ mean and why does equivocal language fail when talking about God?
Equivocal - words have multiple meanings. I.e. when I say God is loving, it isn’t the same as when I say humans are loving.
Equivocal language fails because, since we can’t understand God, we wouldn’t know what loving would mean when applied to God, making it useless.
Why does Aquinas believe that analogous (analogy) language can be used to describe God?
We aren’t the same as God, but we aren’t entirely different either, since we are made “in the image and likeness of God.” Therefore, when we say ‘God is loving’, it should be understood as God exhibiting a trait which is analogous to human love.
What is the Analogy of Attribution?
Aquinas states we can attribute the qualities of a creation as analogous to a creator. He uses the analogy of seeing that a bull’s urine is healthy. Even if we cannot see the bull, we know that it is healthy as its health is analogous with its healthy urine.
Similarly, when humans exhibit love, power and wisdom, we know that the creator, God, shares these traits to an extent. His traits aren’t the same ass ours, but we can say they are ‘like’ ours.
What is the Analogy of Proportion?
A being has a quality relative to its being. For example, plants have life, humans have life, animals have life. Life is relative to the being and is not static in quality.
It follows that God has a higher proportion of a quality due to being a greater being. So God’s love/power/wisdom is like ours, but infinitely larger.
How would Karl Barth criticise Aquinas’ views on religious language?
“The finite has no capacity for the infinite.”
Barth says that it is dangerous to rely on human reason to know anything of God. We cannot grasp infinite beings, so anything we rationalise would be idolatry. After the Fall, human reason cannot reach God alone.
HOWEVER Aquinas would defend his views by saying that humans have a mix of good and bad in them, and sometimes concupiscence is natural. It shouldn’t be said that human reason is intrinsically corrupted because of the Fall.
What is the Accuracy Problem?
Analogies only work if we know both of the things being analogised. For example, if I said “that cake is as soft as a pillow,” you would understand me because you know about cake and pillows. If we say God’s love is like human love, we still don’t understand much because we don’t know the true nature of God.
What does Aquinas defend with his theory of Analogy?
The cognitivism of religious language. Christians tend to think that, when using religious language, they are making statements that could be true or false, and Aquinas preserves that sentiment.
HOWEVER whilst Aquinas may have found a philosophically defensible way of using religious language, many Christians won’t use analogy because it doesn’t account for the role of religious language in their lives.
