Religious Language Flashcards
how is religious language used?
to express both personal experiences and concepts that are largely indescribable in human language
what do most people have as a primary experience?
the feeling of something being ‘out there’, a sense of what could be called a spiritual dimension, something one would call God
what does religious language include?
paradox and contradictions
people do talk about God but what is the problem?
philosophically what this language means
why is it problematic for humans to talk about God?
- because God is outside time and space and we are within
- human language is limited to our experiences of being in time and space
how do people justify God being described as anthropomorphic?
it is seen as a metaphor
why can language not be used to apply to God?
it is rooted in temporality
quote from Maimonides:
“there is nothing both literal and positive that we can say about God”
what language does Aquinas reject?
- univocal
- language that puts God in the same category as humans
how does Aquinas say we can talk about God?
-analogy of attributes and analogy of proportion
God is … … and has no … ?
God is pure actuality and has no potential
if God can’t change what does that make him?
he fulfils his nature and therefore is perfect and ‘good’
if God fulfils his nature what saying does Aquinas believe this means?
“I am that I am”
why are metaphors good to describe God? (2)
- acknowledges his otherness
- express theological truths for which there is no literal equivalent
what has to happen to make a statement meaningful?
-has to be capable of being verified by sense experience
what is a problem with religious language? (meaning)
the literal meaning may be understood but the concept behind it may not
what do some say is the best way to describe God?
silence
what isn’t religious language’s primary purpose?
give understanding at a rational level
what are some types of statements/language used to describe God?
- cognitive statements
- metaphors
- symbolic language
- mythological language
what is the via negative?
only negative terms can be used to describe God
what does it mean when one says God is simple?
- He is not made up of parts
- He is not made up of goodness and power but He is goodness and power
what is the problem with only saying negatives?
- we can’t figure out what it is
- you can say a kettle is not a lot of things but that still doesn’t give you an indication of what a kettle is
via negative and the Bible:
- the Bible is full of positive statements about God
- if it is the word of God, then God wants to be described in positive language
- so the via negativa could be said to oppose God’s wishes of how He wants to be perceived
what is the logic behind the via negative?
- human language arises from human experience
- if God is beyond human experience then human language is meaningless
what is univocal language?
a word used in different contexts but with the same meaning
can or can’t we use univocal language to describe God?
we can’t because that would mean that His attributes are the same as human ones and God isn’t human
what is equivocal language?
the same word has different meanings
can or can’t we use equivocal language to describe God?
we can’t because we don’t know what we the meaning of the word is, it’s meaningless
what is the analogy of attribution?
God is the cause of all things, so all attributes are God’s just on a higher level
what philosopher came up with univocal, equivocal and analogy of attribution?
Aquinas
what is the problem with analogy of attribution to do with God?
we can infer that God is evil
what is Aquinas’ response to the problem with the analogy of attribution? but what is an argument against that?
- that evil isn’t a quality in itself, it is the absence of good
- however, some things are ugly, diseased, disorganised, lazy etc, these are negative qualities and not just the absence of good
what two ways can God be described? to do with symbolism
- in a cognitive non-symbolic way as ‘Being itself’
- any other way of linguistically speaking of God is symbolic
what is a problem with using symbolic language?
we are saying that God isn’t literally a lot of things, so what is God literally
why is mythological language meaningful?
because it is perspective, it provides instruction of how we should behave, motivates us towards moral action
language games and religion:
- religion is a collection of games - prayer, rituals, expressing faith
- language has meaning for those playing the games
- it doesn’t have meaning to those outside the group
what makes religious language as a game a good argument?
- religious language can’t be criticised by people of other games such as Stephen Hawking
- because the language is based on faith and belief not on evidence or logic so it doesn’t need evidence to prove it, it’s not part of the rule book
what are analytical statements?
true by reason
what are synthetic statements?
true by experience
what is a problem with symbols?
they are not universal
what is the verification principle?
that statements that can’t be verified are meaningless
what is the falsification principle?
that if a statement can’t be proved wrong it is meaningless
