Cataphatic / Via Positiva

Question 1

Cataphatic /
Via Positiva

Answer 1

From Greek for ‘affirmation’. The idea that we can talk about God in positive terms.

Question 2

Cataphatic way summary

Answer 2

-Also known as the via positiva.

-We can speak positively about God - we can talk about God’s attributes in a positive sense.

-Analogy - Comparison between two things in order to help us understand the less familiar thing.

Aquinas: Analogy of attribution
Aquinas: Analogy of proper proportion

Tillich: Symbolic Language

Question 3

1. Analogy of attribution

Answer 3

The bull, after all, is the cause of the urine.

Likewise, by examining human love, wisdom or power, we may see a pale reflection of those divine attributes, which are their ultimate origin.

Goodness in the world reflects the goodness of God.

Question 4

2. Analogy of proper proportion

Answer 4

John Hick develops Aquinas’ example of proper proportion by using the examble of the term ‘faithfulness’.

Just as we might see a dog’s faithfulness as smaller than human faithfulness, our faithfulness is vastly smaller than the faithfulness of God