Religious Language - Religious Perspectives

Question 1

What is the via negativa

Answer 1

• the negative way
• stating only what God is not
• can deny God qualities and limitations that might apply to other beings
• beyond negation : not the opposite, he is beyond that quality/words

Question 2

Pseudo Dionysius and the via negativa

Answer 2

• developed the via negativa in order to emphasise the transcendence of God and therefore to separate him from any literal descriptions which could limit him or identify him with the changeable things in this world
• god is nameless, god is not just a creator but involved creatively with everything
• god is beyond ‘all being and knowledge’ and should be recognised as a mystery because he is ‘the perfect and unique cause of all things’
• language that commonly uses words to describe the bits and pieces of our world cannot hope to embrace this sense of an indwelling and omnipresent god
• people do not embrace this and use positive language which makes the idea of god too small —> should allow gd speak to them in the stillness
• eg Moses and mt Sinai not knowing the 10 commandments would be at the top ‘plunge into darkness, which is beyond intellect’

Question 3

Thomas Aquinas and the via negativa

Answer 3

• helps define something by stating what it is not
• reducing the possibilities of what something could be you gain an understanding of what it could be
• we can only describe god by stating what he is not: ‘this is the ultimate in human knowledge of God:to know what we do not know him’
• using perfect to describe god is negation, as perfect is understood as “lacking nothing”

Question 4

Maimonides and the via negativa

Answer 4

• human language is useful in defining explaining and distinguishing in the finite world
• the only way to describe the attributes of god is in negative terms
• god is not comparable to anything else: saying god is most powerful says he can be compared with human power , reducing god to a thing that can be measured against everything else
• used example of ship in ‘guide for the perplexed”: last person to guess is arriving at a correct notion of a ship by foregoing negative attributes
• we come close to knowledge and comprehension of god through negative attributes
• Maimonides says that peoples who state attributes of god don’t just lack sufficient knowledge concerning the creator but unconsciously lose their belief in God.

Question 5

Strengths of the via negativa

Answer 5

• Peter core: provides insight and understanding of god ‘by denying all descriptions of God, you get insight into God rather than disbelief’
• avoids cataphatic language about God
• avoids anthropomorphism as it focuses on gods transcendence
• Supported by claims of those in the mystical tradition like Otto and stace: mystical experiences of god are ineffable and indescribable

Question 6

Weaknesses of the via negativa

Answer 6

• flew: VN defines god into nothingness: invisible incorporeal soundless etc
• argues god out of existence by ‘a thousand qualifications’ and we end up with nothingness
• davies on Maimonides: VN works in finite world, fixed possibilities
• god is infinite, many possibilities, cannot capture god in words
• how can we know ineffable experiences of god are real with mystics? Is the via negativa verifiable
• how practical is it for religion to worship a god when you only know of what he isn’t

Question 7

Quotes for the via negativa

Answer 7

• god is a dark night to man in this life: St John of the cross
• if you comprehend it is not god: st Augustine of hippo
• in the end we know god as unknown - Thomas Aquinas
• it is and it is as no other being is - pseudo Dionysius
• this is altogether beyond our comprehension and knowledge: St John damascene

Question 8

what is an analogy in aquinas context

Answer 8

• explaining the meaning of something difficult to understand by comparing it to something familiar
• this is because there are common qualities between these objects
• aquinas has no theory of analogy, but comments on the practice of using religious language –> FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION

Question 9

what does univocal mean

Answer 9

• the word has the same meaning in many contexts

Question 10

what does equivocal mean

Answer 10

• the same word has a different meaning in many contexts

Question 11

how does univocal and equivocal language limit God

Answer 11

• cannot apply human meanings to god
• univocal: do not know what God is, so word has no meaning when applied to God
• can only talk about God meaningfully using kataphatic analogous language

Question 12

aquinas’ analogy of proportionality

Answer 12

• humans and god are both good, but god is good in a bigger scale
• aquinas says that god cannot be compared to another creature as it limits his transcendence
• ‘we can understand similar characteristics of faithfulness in dogs’ Hick
• downward analogy: there is a difference between a canine and human, due to self conscious deliberation –> reducing level of quality
• upwards analogy: it can be reversed, human faithfulness is a remote approximation of Gods qualities; we recognise the scale as increased

Question 13

analogy of attribution

Answer 13

• can attribute qualities by relation to a subject –> I am healthy so my exercise regime is healthy
• God is completely separate from the universe but there is a causal relationship between the universe and God, as God is its creator
• analogy and perfection: aquinas says god is good, so goodness is attributed to Gods creatures –> aquinas says all humans come from God
• God is good in himself –> we know what goodness is as God is the source of it
• all good things come from the ultimate source of Goodness, which is God

Question 14

ramseys view on analogy

Answer 14

• models and qualifiers
• model: word with straightforward meaning when applied to ordinary things we experience, but can be used to describe God
• to make sure that it is not understood, a model needs a qualifier to show how the word is being applied to God (creator and perfect)
• rel lang expresses discernment and commitment: expresses what someone believes they have seen about reality, and it is not detatched –> models and qualifiers areb the most appropriate to talk about them, allowing empircal evidence to take on a new depth
• however, flew is against requalifications

Question 15

analogical language HELPS us understand God

Answer 15

• it does not anthropomorphise God or limit transcendence
• can relate to things we understand in reality to better understand God –> links with natural theology and human reason to understand God (human experience)
• when qualified, does not make us think it is univocal
• close to the function of religious language within religion
• we can explain experiences with language that pushes boundaries with metaphors etc

Question 16

analogical language DOES NOT HELP us understand God

Answer 16

• A of Prop: limits gods transcendence
• barth: the finite can never grasp the finite, reason does not arrive at God –> analogy rests on experience of the finite
• misunderstanding analogies means you misunderstand God
• hard to verify an analogy as true
• analogy depends on having prior knowledge of God, cannot compare something you do not understand to anything
• God could be argued as evil, as evil in his creation can be traced back to the source of evil

Question 17

What are 6 features of symbols according to Paul Tillich

Answer 17

• they point to a reality beyond themselves
• participate in the power to which they point
• open up levels of reality which would otherwise be closed to us
• they open up levels of the souls which correspond to these realities
• they cannot be produced intentionally they come out of human unconscious
• symbols are produced and die within a cultural context

Question 18

Difference between a sign and a symbol

Answer 18

• symbol: relates to a metaphysical idea, relation between this world and the metaphysical
• allow to commune with God transcend correspondence theory of truth
• have a kinship with what they represent
• symbols open up levels of reality which would otherwise be closed to us
• links to religious experience and Rudolph Otto, they are Sui generis
• sign: relates to something in the physical world, they are arbitrary and can change off our whim

Question 19

Why must religious language be symbolic

Answer 19

• its very nature is symbolic, as its very nature there is a kinship between the terms used and the events they represent
  ‘ the language of faith is the language of symbols’
• only literal statement in rel religious is that god is being itself, but cannot use literal language to describe existence
• a symbol is self transcending, can transcend the physical meaning that is apparent in the world - only language that can do this
• god is the name for what a rel person encounters in a way that is personal and demanding

Question 20

God as the ground of our being

Answer 20

• Tillich argues the very nature of God as being transcendent and the basis for all the exists means that any conventional language rooted in human experience is insufficient
• language must take on a different function to mean anything about god
• language is purely symbolic and can only makes sense to users who understand the symbols in their religious context
• god is the ground of our being as he is being himself
• an experience of god is not an experience of something that happens to be there , but an experience of life itself - of being itself, an experience which then gives meaning to everything else
• god is our ultimate concern, god demands total attention and commitment
  -this is the most important concern in life
• talks about ‘concrete assertions’ like god is good, or he is the light of the world
• they are symbolic as they simplify something that is in the metaphysical world, not correspondence theory of truth
• talking beyond good or false, but talks about the relationship between a symbol and the subject

Question 21

Symbols in scripture

Answer 21

• gen 1 and 2 are symbolic - god creating the world in 6 days and in a particular order, symbolic in that they represents ideas about God far beyond the literal meaning of the words
• psalms - hymns about gods glory and majesty and are not meant literally, reflections of people in awe of the creator and should be interpreted as such , not historical or scientific but are reflections , and should be seen as a love letter to god (relationship)

Question 22

Historic use of symbols

Answer 22

• symbols were used by religious practitioners since the start of religion
• Jesus as the lamb of god, Jesus on the cross
• each has symbolic significance that goes beyond the sum of their literal parts

Question 23

Symbols in religious tradition

Answer 23

• Tillich used examples like atonement and baptism to show how language was ultimately symbolic
• act of atonement means little in literal terms but shared by users who understand the practice and feel represented by the symbolic meaning it represents, the term has a life changing meaning
• baptism in literal terms ridiculous , the thought of water washing away sin means nothing but in the Christian setting it is more significant

Question 24

Limitations in the use of symbols

Answer 24

• symbols change in meaning eg the swatstika
• rel language may be symbolic but does not bridge the gap between man and god
• hick: many things we say about god comes from the conscious brain of theologians and philosophers not a collective conscious mind
• does not agree with religious people that see god as separate transcendent being who is also the ground of existence or with those who see god as the creator who made the universe and then left it to follow the rules by which it was made

Question 25

Strengths of using symbolic language

Answer 25

• can relate rel languages to ordinary experiences like love
• reflects what is known through rel experiences and gain insight into key issues in our lives - tell us the meaning of our lives