Religious language

Question 1

What are the problems of religious language?

Answer 1

• Its not possible to meaningfully talk about things you don’t understand
  -most Christians agree that God is beyond our understanding
  -In this case, how can can Christians meaningfully talk about God

Question 2

What is Via Negativa (apophatic)?
Pseudo-Dionysius

Answer 2

• Negative language is describing what a thing is not
• We need to give up on saying what God is- all we can meaningfully say is what God is not
  -By saying God is not darkness, we aren’t saying that God is light, we can’t imply anything about what he is
• Meant to show us that God is beyond anything we could say- cloud of unknowing

Question 3

What are the strengths of Via Negativa?

Answer 3

• Maimonides’ ship e.g- argued for negative view
  -Uses illustration of a ship, imagine someone who knows what the name applies to
  -By hearing what the ship is not (e.g not a plant), they get closer to what the ship is
  -Through the negative attributes we ‘come nearer’ to the knowledge and comprehension of God

Question 4

What are the criticisms to Vis Negativa?

Answer 4

David- Negative language only allows us to actually gain knowledge in ‘special cases’, such as when we know exactly what possibilities there are for a thing
-E.G, if we know a person is not left-handed and not ambidextrous, then we can know they are right- handed
- Many cases, including God are not like that
- We could run through the list of all things in the universe and say God is not them, but we’d be no closer to understanding what God is

Question 5

What are the strengths of Via Negativa in relation to Aquinas?

Answer 5

-The average Christian probably is in danger of anthropomorphising God
-God is often imagined in human terms due to religious art. God is not a bearded man in the clouds
-Via Negativa helps Christians not have this mistaken view of God

Question 6

What are the counterpoints OF Via Negativa in relation to Aquinas?

Answer 6

• Aquinas’ rejection of this regarding everyday Christian meaning
• He claims of negative language that is ‘not what people want to say when they talk about God
  -RL you hear is inconsistent with VN, e.g Bible says ‘God is love’- Exodous- God describes himself ‘I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God’

Question 7

What is Aquinas’ theory of analogy (cataphatic)?

Answer 7

-Although we cannot say what God is, we can say what he is like using analogical language
-First rejects standard versions of via [positiva]
-Univocal language fails because we are not the same as God (so can’t just use the same word)
-Equivocal language results in meaningless language because we aren’t different to God
-Solution is to point out that there is a middle ground between these options. We are not the same, but like God- Analogous to God

Question 8

What are the strengths of Aquinas’ Analogy?

Answer 8

• strength of Aquinas’ theory is its function in natural theology, reason is a gift from God, resulting from being made in his image
  -God designed our reason with the power to know something about God in this case, about the analogy between our attributes and God’s

Question 9

What is Aquinas’ natural theology? Digestible notes

Answer 9

• If original sin had destroyed the image of God in us, we would be just like the animals, but we aren’t
• We must still retain some ability to reason about God
  -Aquinas thought that original sin couldn’t have completely destroyed our ability to reason
  -So, reasoning about God’s attributes and speaking about God analogically is valid due to natural theology