Religious Language as Analogy

Question 1

Who offered the analysis of religious language as analogical?

Answer 1

St Thomas Aquinas

Question 2

What problem did Aquinas see with Religious language?

Answer 2

when we talk about God and his attributes, we are not using words in the same way as when we talk about humans and their properties. E.G God is a rock, God is a great warrior

Question 3

What is the Via Negativa?

Answer 3

The idea God can only be spoken of by saying what he is not, Aquinas is not a member of this

Question 4

What way is Aquinas confident we CAN talk about God in?

Answer 4

A positive and literal way

Question 5

What does Aquinas say about the Via Negativa?

Answer 5

emphasizes God’s unknowability and the imperfect language we describe God with which he supports, but is against the idea that we can only speak of God in a non-literal way e.g metaphors

Question 6

What is Aquinas’ dilemma with language?

Answer 6

How can we describe God in a substantial way? God is beyond experience and our language cannot describe what is beyond experience.

Question 7

What are Aquinas’ 3 ways of using words? (Uses)

Answer 7

Univocal Use, Equivocal Use, Analogical Use

Question 8

What is Univocal use?

Answer 8

Using a word univocally means using the same meaning in different statements
“you look like a rat”
“there is a rat in the sewer”
rat means the same thing

Question 9

What is Equivocal use?

Answer 9

Different meanings for a word in different sentences
“he is feeling down”
“I climbed down”
Down means two different things

Question 10

What is Analogical use?

Answer 10

A word has similar meanings between two sentences, middle ground of univocal and equivocal
“Lassie is faithful to her owner”
“The people were faithful to their leader”
Faithful for the dog Lassie is similar to the faithfulness of the people