Religious Language One Flashcards
agnosticism
the view that there is insufficient evidence for God, or the view that God cannot be known
truth claim
a statement that asserts something is factually true
not all truth claims are true
apophatic way
via negativa
a way of speaking about God and theological ideas using only terms that say what God is not
e.g he is incorporeal - doesn’t have a body
emphasise the difference between God and humanity
cataphatic way
via positiva
a range of ways of speaking about God and theological ideas using only terms that say what God is
using analogy and symbol
univocal language
words that mean the same things when used in different contexts
equivocal language
words that mean different things when used in different contexts
what do many agnostic thinkers say about discussing God
- God is something we cannot know nor speak about
- God unavailable to reason, experiment, testing
- no words in human vocabulary can communicate anything about God
- thus, no point in discussing God
- we cannot possibly know if what we are saying is true
- even atheist’s engage in discussion whereas agnostic thinkers don’t
what are agnostic thinkers doing when they claim that talk of God or anything supernatural is plain nonsense etc.
they themselves are making truth claims
how did Islam try to communicate the nature of God
- 99 names for Allah like the gracious or the merciful
what do theists also try to communicate about as well as the nature of God
- other aspects of belief outside everyday experience
- afterlife, state of enlightenment, nature of the soul
what is an issue for philosophers of religion
whether religious language can communicate ideas effectively even when these are ideas that go way beyond our normal experiences in everyday life
- perhaps language of human, finite, limited world is inadequate
or - perhaps there are ways in which at least some understanding of God can be communicated
why is it problematic to use our normal vocabulary to speak of God as ‘a father’ e.g.
- words that apply only to finite imperfect things that belong in this world
- it makes us think of human fathers, putting pictures in our minds of physical beings with limitations even if by human standards they are exceptionally good fathers
- everyone has a different experience of fathers
why is the apophatic way beneficial
- using normal language will always make God too small and misrepresent him in a damaging and disrespectful way
- thus we should deny that we can say anything about God at all
what are statements made in the apophatic way
plain statements of fact
what is wrong with saying God is love or God is a shepherd
- Shepherd - make us think he is male with a body
- God is love - we only know human love with its jealousies, flaws and fluctuations
- it is wrong to try and apply these same concepts to God
apophatic way and God’s mysteries
- people who support (-) way say better to accept the mysteries of God than try to pin God down using flawed concepts
- matches with a deep religious instinct - e.g. in Islam God is never portrayed visually
discuss Pseudo-Dionysius
- Christian thinker - 6th century
- (-) way only way to speak truthfully about God as he is beyond all human understanding/imagination
- counter productive to speak as if God can be perceived by the senses or as if we can reach God through reason
- only through recognition of the limits of humanity that spiritual progress can be made
how did Pseudo-Dionysius support the ideas of Plato
- need for soul to be unified with God going beyond the realms of sense perception and rationality entering obscurity and a cloud of unknowing from which God can be approached
- believed in division between body and soul
- soul’s search for God can be held back by the demands of the body and the mind’s desire for complete understanding
- thus we can’t talk about God in a (+) way
what did Pseudo Dionysius think about those genuinely seeking God
- they should put away their need to have answers to everything
- stop trying to use logic and arguments
- instead allow God to speak to them in stillness accepting he will remain a mystery
- until they accept this they miss the point and end up with a God that is too small
anon - ‘the cloud of unknowing quote’
you may not see Him clearly by the light of understanding in your reason for if you ever shall feel him or see him it is right always to be in this cloud in this darkness
who is Pseudo-Dionysius’ ideas about mystery of God similar to
- William James
- same awareness of the ineffable nature of God
who was Moses Maimonides
- adopted via negativa
- medieval Jewish Philosopher
- warns continuously of the dangers of anthropomorphising God in his works
- warns against literal interpretations of such phrases like ‘God’s right hand’
what is anthropomorphising God
giving human characteristics to something not human - makes God seem smaller than he is - humanity is flawed but God is perfect
what does Moses Maimonides say about is making comparisons with God because of who we are
“because man’s distinction lies in having something which no other earthly creature possessed, intellectual perception this has been compared though only apparently not as a matter of truth to the Divine perception which requires no bodily organ”
“because of the divine intellect man has been given he is is said to be in the image and likeness of the Almighty. But we should not have the idea that the Supreme Being is corporeal”
what did Aquinas say about via negativa
- he was not an exponent of it but was sympathetic to its proponents and the significance of their insights
- he did think that the essence of God was infinitely far beyond human understanding/language but didn’t think nothing could be done about this
- via negativa is a prelude to understanding God
- to say that God is not ignorant or not limited by time surely still tells us something even if we do not know what
- as long as we remember its analogy we can say whatever
what is the criticism of via negative with reference to it being unhelpful or negligible
- any understanding gleaned through this approach is negligible
- saying God is not a bicycle gives us no deep insight into the nature of God
- though proponents would argue that even to make a (-) statement implies some awareness of what is being denied
what was W.R Inge concerned about with reference to the apophatic way
- that to deny God his descriptions was to lead to an ‘annihilation’ of both God and humanity
- if we strip God of his descriptions simply because our descriptions are limited and based on finite human experience we are in danger of losing the essential link between God and the world
what does Christian orthodoxy insist on and how is this a criticism of the via negativa
- on God’s involvement in the world and a God who loved it that he sacrificed his son for it
- if we can say nothing about God a danger is not simply that we cannot think significantly about God but that we will not think about him at all
- the only tool we have is our language we have to use it or we won’t be able to think about God as our thoughts are formed in words
what did C.K. Chesterton and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin speak of
- the ‘divinisation of matter’
- finding God through our material existence was all part of his plan for salvation
what is the divinisation of matter
that the world is how God interacts with us - we can only experience him through our sense experience in this world hence why Jesus came here
what did Teilhard think about how we can speak of God
(he was a critic of via negativa)
- if we can talk about God’s relationship with material things then we are inevitably saying something positive however limited that might be
- e.g. it makes sense to say someone knows the love of God through the love she experiences in her marriage because even human love is mysterious and never fully understood
- people question ‘why did she choose me e.g.’
- neither person in the marriage can answer that question in full, as with talking about God we can never properly answer, but that does not mean that nothing can be said or expressed
- we still express human love even if we don’t fully understand it
how does via negativa run the risk of denying God’s existence all together
if you can only describe God in negative ways it leaves open the question of what God actually is and if it cannot clearly be stated what is been talked about then how can anyone be sure there is something to be talked about at all
- if god is not hurtful, in time etc… is God perhaps not anything
why does marriage been a sacrament help us understand God’s love
- it is a physical symbol that gives us a window into the love God has
- marriage between a man and a woman mirrors God’s love
- thus as a criticism of via negativa it is possible to use human experiences to say something about and help us understand God
how did Aquinas end his career and how did this show support for the via negativa way in Mark Vernon’s article face to faith
- he put down his pen and said ‘all I have written seems like straw’
- his goal had been to understand God and he had made many verbal attempts on the summit
- his efforts had produced wonderful reflections but he reached the point where he has been able to appreciate the most profound truth - the peak lies beyond
- God is unknown
- his silence was not a rejection but the culmination of his work
what did Vernon think it was a mistake to assume about Aquinas
- it is easy to sideline how radically agnostic Aquinas was even as a man of faith
- Aquinas thought even if the existence of God cannot be asserted, neither can God’s nonexistence
- that by saying God is the unmoved mover Aquinas thinks this shows god’s existence
- the aim of the proofs is to show incapable reason is of grasping God.
- that is its value, the throw us beyond anything that can be said to God
why is it important to remember how unknown God is (Vernon article)
- believers seem to forget this
- consider the kind of evangelical religiosity in which worship ceases to be an encounter with the mystery of God and becomes instead a feelgood experience, a time for sharing with a deity who is so well known that you can even ask him with help parking the car at the supermarket
- Kierkegaard quipped if faith would turn water into wine this turns wine into water
- it takes away the special mystery of God