David R. Law
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198263364
- eISBN:
- 9780191682506
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198263364.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This book is concerned with Kierkegaard's ‘apophaticism’, i.e. with those elements of Kierkegaard's thought that emphasize the incapacity of human reason and the hiddenness of God. Apophaticism is an ...
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This book is concerned with Kierkegaard's ‘apophaticism’, i.e. with those elements of Kierkegaard's thought that emphasize the incapacity of human reason and the hiddenness of God. Apophaticism is an important underlying strand in Kierkegaard's thought and colours many of his key concepts. Despite its importance, however, it has until now been largely ignored by Kierkegaardian scholarship. The book argues that apophatic elements can be detected in every aspect of Kierkegaard's thought and that, despite proceeding from different presuppositions, he can therefore be regarded as a negative theologian. Indeed, the book concludes by arguing that Kierkegaard's refusal to make the transition from the via negative to the via mystica means that he is more apophatic than the negative theologians themselves.Less
This book is concerned with Kierkegaard's ‘apophaticism’, i.e. with those elements of Kierkegaard's thought that emphasize the incapacity of human reason and the hiddenness of God. Apophaticism is an important underlying strand in Kierkegaard's thought and colours many of his key concepts. Despite its importance, however, it has until now been largely ignored by Kierkegaardian scholarship. The book argues that apophatic elements can be detected in every aspect of Kierkegaard's thought and that, despite proceeding from different presuppositions, he can therefore be regarded as a negative theologian. Indeed, the book concludes by arguing that Kierkegaard's refusal to make the transition from the via negative to the via mystica means that he is more apophatic than the negative theologians themselves.
Stephen Gersh
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199545544
- eISBN:
- 9780191720598
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199545544.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter concentrates on two of Derrida's texts, How to Avoid Speaking: Denials and Circumfession, in order to show how the author reads major figures within the Platonic or Neoplatonic ...
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This chapter concentrates on two of Derrida's texts, How to Avoid Speaking: Denials and Circumfession, in order to show how the author reads major figures within the Platonic or Neoplatonic tradition—particularly Augustine and pseudo‐Dionysius—in counterpoint with such modern thinkers as Heidegger, Husserl, and Levinas. Contrary to the opinion of certain contemporary historians of ideas and post‐modern theologians, Derrida reveals a highly sophisticated grasp of what might be termed the negative‐differential, onto‐theo‐logical, and incipiently performative aspects of this ancient philosophical tradition. His only serious failing as a reader is perhaps to separate too radically the ‘mystical’ from the ‘Platonic’ aspects of late ancient thought, thereby missing the opportunity to release fully the deconstructive energy within many texts to which he had rightly drawn attention.Less
This chapter concentrates on two of Derrida's texts, How to Avoid Speaking: Denials and Circumfession, in order to show how the author reads major figures within the Platonic or Neoplatonic tradition—particularly Augustine and pseudo‐Dionysius—in counterpoint with such modern thinkers as Heidegger, Husserl, and Levinas. Contrary to the opinion of certain contemporary historians of ideas and post‐modern theologians, Derrida reveals a highly sophisticated grasp of what might be termed the negative‐differential, onto‐theo‐logical, and incipiently performative aspects of this ancient philosophical tradition. His only serious failing as a reader is perhaps to separate too radically the ‘mystical’ from the ‘Platonic’ aspects of late ancient thought, thereby missing the opportunity to release fully the deconstructive energy within many texts to which he had rightly drawn attention.
DAVID R. LAW
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198263364
- eISBN:
- 9780191682506
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198263364.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about the apophaticism or negative theology of philosopher and theologian Søren Kierkegaard. This book traces the historical ...
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This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about the apophaticism or negative theology of philosopher and theologian Søren Kierkegaard. This book traces the historical background of Kierkegaard's apophaticism and the methodological foundations of his thoughts. It describes the anthropological and theological basis of Kierkegaard and his theory of stages or spheres of existence. It then compares the aphophatic motifs of Kierkegaard's thoughts with those of negative theologians.Less
This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about the apophaticism or negative theology of philosopher and theologian Søren Kierkegaard. This book traces the historical background of Kierkegaard's apophaticism and the methodological foundations of his thoughts. It describes the anthropological and theological basis of Kierkegaard and his theory of stages or spheres of existence. It then compares the aphophatic motifs of Kierkegaard's thoughts with those of negative theologians.
Andrew Radde-Gallwitz
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199574117
- eISBN:
- 9780191722110
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199574117.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies, Theology
Divine simplicity is the idea that, as the ultimate principle of the universe, God must be a non‐composite unity not made up of parts or diverse attributes. The idea was appropriated by early ...
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Divine simplicity is the idea that, as the ultimate principle of the universe, God must be a non‐composite unity not made up of parts or diverse attributes. The idea was appropriated by early Christian theologians from non‐Christian philosophy and played a pivotal role in the development of Christian thought. Andrew Radde‐Gallwitz charts the progress of the idea of divine simplicity from the second through the fourth centuries, with particular attention to Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nyssa, two of the most subtle writers on this topic, both instrumental in the construction of the Trinitarian doctrine proclaimed as orthodox at the Council of Constantinople in 381. He demonstrates that divine simplicity was not a philosophical appendage awkwardly attached to the early Christian doctrine of God, but a notion that enabled Christians to articulate the consistency of God as portrayed in their scriptures. Basil and Gregory offered a unique construal of simplicity in responding to their principal doctrinal opponent, Eunomius of Cyzicus. Challenging accepted interpretations of Cappadocian brothers and the standard account of divine simplicity in recent philosophical literature, Radde‐Gallwitz argues that Basil and Gregory's achievement in transforming ideas inherited from the non‐Christian philosophy of their time has an ongoing relevance for Christian theological epistemology today.Less
Divine simplicity is the idea that, as the ultimate principle of the universe, God must be a non‐composite unity not made up of parts or diverse attributes. The idea was appropriated by early Christian theologians from non‐Christian philosophy and played a pivotal role in the development of Christian thought. Andrew Radde‐Gallwitz charts the progress of the idea of divine simplicity from the second through the fourth centuries, with particular attention to Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nyssa, two of the most subtle writers on this topic, both instrumental in the construction of the Trinitarian doctrine proclaimed as orthodox at the Council of Constantinople in 381. He demonstrates that divine simplicity was not a philosophical appendage awkwardly attached to the early Christian doctrine of God, but a notion that enabled Christians to articulate the consistency of God as portrayed in their scriptures. Basil and Gregory offered a unique construal of simplicity in responding to their principal doctrinal opponent, Eunomius of Cyzicus. Challenging accepted interpretations of Cappadocian brothers and the standard account of divine simplicity in recent philosophical literature, Radde‐Gallwitz argues that Basil and Gregory's achievement in transforming ideas inherited from the non‐Christian philosophy of their time has an ongoing relevance for Christian theological epistemology today.
George Pattison
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199588688
- eISBN:
- 9780191723339
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199588688.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Heidegger's critique of Gerede and Kierkegaard's analysis of chatter show language in crisis. However, this also reveals tensions in the basic structures of linguistic representation. This is ...
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Heidegger's critique of Gerede and Kierkegaard's analysis of chatter show language in crisis. However, this also reveals tensions in the basic structures of linguistic representation. This is explored further through Hegel, Heidegger, and Derrida. Particular attention is paid to the development in Heidegger's concept of language from his early lectures on Aristotle's Rhetoric through to his later concept of Ereignis. However, language is a human practice and what language ‘means’ is inseparable from how it is used or performed by those who speak it. Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky and M.M. Bakhtin are used to draw out the significance of the moral commitment of the speaker and the consequent problematization of language as a means of truthful communication in a human world characteristically moving in a fog of lies, prevarications, and misunderstanding. The question of language therefore leads to the question of human relationships, and their capacity to reveal Being.Less
Heidegger's critique of Gerede and Kierkegaard's analysis of chatter show language in crisis. However, this also reveals tensions in the basic structures of linguistic representation. This is explored further through Hegel, Heidegger, and Derrida. Particular attention is paid to the development in Heidegger's concept of language from his early lectures on Aristotle's Rhetoric through to his later concept of Ereignis. However, language is a human practice and what language ‘means’ is inseparable from how it is used or performed by those who speak it. Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky and M.M. Bakhtin are used to draw out the significance of the moral commitment of the speaker and the consequent problematization of language as a means of truthful communication in a human world characteristically moving in a fog of lies, prevarications, and misunderstanding. The question of language therefore leads to the question of human relationships, and their capacity to reveal Being.
Merold Westphal
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195138092
- eISBN:
- 9780199835348
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195138090.003.0020
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
A triple sampling of the rich diversity of philosophical reflection on religion and on the relation of philosophy to religion within “continental” traditions. The first part explores three accounts ...
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A triple sampling of the rich diversity of philosophical reflection on religion and on the relation of philosophy to religion within “continental” traditions. The first part explores three accounts of the relation of phenomenology to religion as presented by Heidegger, Ricoeur, and Marion (in relation to Janicaud’s critique). The second part explores Heidegger’s critique of metaphysics in its onto-theological constitution with detailed attention to just what he means by this notion and with special reference to the religious and theological motivations one might have for wanting to avoid onto-theological thinking. The third part explores the renewed interest in negative theology that revolves around the conversation between Derrida and Marion.Less
A triple sampling of the rich diversity of philosophical reflection on religion and on the relation of philosophy to religion within “continental” traditions. The first part explores three accounts of the relation of phenomenology to religion as presented by Heidegger, Ricoeur, and Marion (in relation to Janicaud’s critique). The second part explores Heidegger’s critique of metaphysics in its onto-theological constitution with detailed attention to just what he means by this notion and with special reference to the religious and theological motivations one might have for wanting to avoid onto-theological thinking. The third part explores the renewed interest in negative theology that revolves around the conversation between Derrida and Marion.
Charles M. Stang
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199640423
- eISBN:
- 9780191738234
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199640423.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies, Religion and Literature
This book argues that the pseudonym, Dionysius the Areopagite, and the influence of Paul together constitute the best interpretive lens for understanding the Corpus Dionysiacum [CD]. This book ...
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This book argues that the pseudonym, Dionysius the Areopagite, and the influence of Paul together constitute the best interpretive lens for understanding the Corpus Dionysiacum [CD]. This book demonstrates how Paul in fact animates the entire corpus, that the influence of Paul illuminates such central themes of the CD as hierarchy, theurgy, deification, Christology, affirmation (kataphasis) and negation (apophasis), dissimilar similarities, and unknowing. Most importantly, Paul serves as a fulcrum for the expression of a new theological anthropology, an “apophatic anthropology.” Dionysius figures Paul as the premier apostolic witness to this apophatic anthropology, as the ecstatic lover of the divine who confesses to the rupture of his self and the indwelling of the divine in Gal 2:20: “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” Building on this notion of apophatic anthropology, the book forwards an explanation for why this sixth‐century author chose to write under an apostolic pseudonym. It argues that the very practice of pseudonymous writing itself serves as an ecstatic devotional exercise whereby the writer becomes split in two and thereby open to the indwelling of the divine. Pseudonymity is on this interpretation integral and internal to the aims of the wider mystical enterprise. Thus this book aims to question the distinction between “theory” and “practice” by demonstrating that negative theology—often figured as a speculative and rarefied theory regarding the transcendence of God—is in fact best understood as a kind of asceticism, a devotional practice aiming for the total transformation of the Christian subject.Less
This book argues that the pseudonym, Dionysius the Areopagite, and the influence of Paul together constitute the best interpretive lens for understanding the Corpus Dionysiacum [CD]. This book demonstrates how Paul in fact animates the entire corpus, that the influence of Paul illuminates such central themes of the CD as hierarchy, theurgy, deification, Christology, affirmation (kataphasis) and negation (apophasis), dissimilar similarities, and unknowing. Most importantly, Paul serves as a fulcrum for the expression of a new theological anthropology, an “apophatic anthropology.” Dionysius figures Paul as the premier apostolic witness to this apophatic anthropology, as the ecstatic lover of the divine who confesses to the rupture of his self and the indwelling of the divine in Gal 2:20: “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” Building on this notion of apophatic anthropology, the book forwards an explanation for why this sixth‐century author chose to write under an apostolic pseudonym. It argues that the very practice of pseudonymous writing itself serves as an ecstatic devotional exercise whereby the writer becomes split in two and thereby open to the indwelling of the divine. Pseudonymity is on this interpretation integral and internal to the aims of the wider mystical enterprise. Thus this book aims to question the distinction between “theory” and “practice” by demonstrating that negative theology—often figured as a speculative and rarefied theory regarding the transcendence of God—is in fact best understood as a kind of asceticism, a devotional practice aiming for the total transformation of the Christian subject.
Lawrence Moonan
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198267553
- eISBN:
- 9780191683282
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198267553.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter examines St Thomas Aquinas's most detailed and explicit exposition of the Distinction; which is also the most detailed and explicit given by any medieval examined in this book. It dates ...
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This chapter examines St Thomas Aquinas's most detailed and explicit exposition of the Distinction; which is also the most detailed and explicit given by any medieval examined in this book. It dates from the beginning of his career as a master in the Theology Faculty of Paris, and appears in the first theological work in which he was entitled, as a master, to put forward his own theology in his own right. Essentially the same understanding is shown in later passages, even in theological works from the last years of his life. He provides the exposition in connection with a narrowly theological puzzle, on a matter of the opus redemptionis, the traditional preserve of the theologians. The puzzle is whether God the Father could have become incarnate: one of the puzzles on whether the mode of redemption might differ from the genre which had so much concerned theologians of the age of St Anselm. This chapter examines St Thomas Aquinas's views on the Power Distinction, the knowability of God by creatures, and Negative Theology.Less
This chapter examines St Thomas Aquinas's most detailed and explicit exposition of the Distinction; which is also the most detailed and explicit given by any medieval examined in this book. It dates from the beginning of his career as a master in the Theology Faculty of Paris, and appears in the first theological work in which he was entitled, as a master, to put forward his own theology in his own right. Essentially the same understanding is shown in later passages, even in theological works from the last years of his life. He provides the exposition in connection with a narrowly theological puzzle, on a matter of the opus redemptionis, the traditional preserve of the theologians. The puzzle is whether God the Father could have become incarnate: one of the puzzles on whether the mode of redemption might differ from the genre which had so much concerned theologians of the age of St Anselm. This chapter examines St Thomas Aquinas's views on the Power Distinction, the knowability of God by creatures, and Negative Theology.
Daniel Davies
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199768738
- eISBN:
- 9780199918980
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199768738.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
An essential part of the law's theology, as Maimonides explains it, is that God knows all things as their creator. It is usually thought that this view opposes Maimonides' negative theology. This ...
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An essential part of the law's theology, as Maimonides explains it, is that God knows all things as their creator. It is usually thought that this view opposes Maimonides' negative theology. This chapter argues that Maimonides describes God's knowledge in the same way as uncreated perfections were described in chapter 5. It shows that Maimonides' presentation of God's knowledge can then be squared with his negative theology and that he tries to meet philosophical objections by emphasizing the absolute difference between God's knowledge and human knowledge. As with creation, the law is opposed to Aristotle's view, and neither can be demonstrated. The law can only be supported by dialectical levels of authority. An appendix to the chapter considers the thorny issue of the opposition between Maimonides' negative theology and his clear assertion that God is an intellect. It argues that this difficulty might be solved in the same fashion.Less
An essential part of the law's theology, as Maimonides explains it, is that God knows all things as their creator. It is usually thought that this view opposes Maimonides' negative theology. This chapter argues that Maimonides describes God's knowledge in the same way as uncreated perfections were described in chapter 5. It shows that Maimonides' presentation of God's knowledge can then be squared with his negative theology and that he tries to meet philosophical objections by emphasizing the absolute difference between God's knowledge and human knowledge. As with creation, the law is opposed to Aristotle's view, and neither can be demonstrated. The law can only be supported by dialectical levels of authority. An appendix to the chapter considers the thorny issue of the opposition between Maimonides' negative theology and his clear assertion that God is an intellect. It argues that this difficulty might be solved in the same fashion.
Chris Boesel and Catherine Keller (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823230815
- eISBN:
- 9780823235087
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823230815.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
The ancient doctrine of negative theology or apophasis—the attempt to describe God by speaking only of what cannot be said about the divine perfection and goodness—has taken on new ...
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The ancient doctrine of negative theology or apophasis—the attempt to describe God by speaking only of what cannot be said about the divine perfection and goodness—has taken on new life in the concern with language and its limits that preoccupies much post-modern philosophy, theology, and related disciplines. How does this mystical tradition intersect with the concern with material bodies that is simultaneously a focus in these areas? This volume pursues the unlikely conjunction of apophasis and the body, not for the cachet of the “cutting edge” but rather out of an ethical passion for the integrity of all creaturely bodies as they are caught up in various ideological mechanisms—religious, theological, political, economic—that threaten their dignity and material well-being. The book rethinks the relationship between the concrete tradition of negative theology and apophatic discourses widely construed. It further endeavors to link these to the theological theme of incarnation and more general issues of embodiment, sexuality, and cosmology. Along the way, the book engages and deploys the resources of contextual and liberation theology, post-structuralism, postcolonialism, process thought, and feminism. The result not only recasts the nature and possibilities of theological discourse but explores the possibilities of academic discussion across and beyond disciplines in concrete engagement with the well-being of bodies, both organic and inorganic. The volume interrogates the complex capacities of religious discourse both to threaten and positively to draw upon the material well-being of creation.Less
The ancient doctrine of negative theology or apophasis—the attempt to describe God by speaking only of what cannot be said about the divine perfection and goodness—has taken on new life in the concern with language and its limits that preoccupies much post-modern philosophy, theology, and related disciplines. How does this mystical tradition intersect with the concern with material bodies that is simultaneously a focus in these areas? This volume pursues the unlikely conjunction of apophasis and the body, not for the cachet of the “cutting edge” but rather out of an ethical passion for the integrity of all creaturely bodies as they are caught up in various ideological mechanisms—religious, theological, political, economic—that threaten their dignity and material well-being. The book rethinks the relationship between the concrete tradition of negative theology and apophatic discourses widely construed. It further endeavors to link these to the theological theme of incarnation and more general issues of embodiment, sexuality, and cosmology. Along the way, the book engages and deploys the resources of contextual and liberation theology, post-structuralism, postcolonialism, process thought, and feminism. The result not only recasts the nature and possibilities of theological discourse but explores the possibilities of academic discussion across and beyond disciplines in concrete engagement with the well-being of bodies, both organic and inorganic. The volume interrogates the complex capacities of religious discourse both to threaten and positively to draw upon the material well-being of creation.
Lawrence Moonan
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198267553
- eISBN:
- 9780191683282
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198267553.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
St Albert the Great's contribution to an understanding of the Distinction is considerable. He makes it plain in more than one place that it is God's power to do things extrinsic to his nature that is ...
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St Albert the Great's contribution to an understanding of the Distinction is considerable. He makes it plain in more than one place that it is God's power to do things extrinsic to his nature that is in question when the Power Distinction is applicable. He uses the helpful name of God's ‘operant power’ (potentia operans) for it. And he has some particularly helpful ways of describing God's option-neutral power. He is also determinedly adherent to a Negative Theology. He imposed his mark on his reading. If some respected authority was contradicted by his experience, or by that of personal acquaintances whose testimony he thought worth reporting, he would say so. If he thought certain matters unsuitable for treatment in a certain genre of work, he would act accordingly, so that he kept strictly theological issues and devices (the Power Distinction among these, it would appear) out of works he intended to be non-theological.Less
St Albert the Great's contribution to an understanding of the Distinction is considerable. He makes it plain in more than one place that it is God's power to do things extrinsic to his nature that is in question when the Power Distinction is applicable. He uses the helpful name of God's ‘operant power’ (potentia operans) for it. And he has some particularly helpful ways of describing God's option-neutral power. He is also determinedly adherent to a Negative Theology. He imposed his mark on his reading. If some respected authority was contradicted by his experience, or by that of personal acquaintances whose testimony he thought worth reporting, he would say so. If he thought certain matters unsuitable for treatment in a certain genre of work, he would act accordingly, so that he kept strictly theological issues and devices (the Power Distinction among these, it would appear) out of works he intended to be non-theological.
Catherine Keller
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823230815
- eISBN:
- 9780823235087
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823230815.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
Apophatic theology has little to (un)say about bodies, whereas it speaks volumes about that which it deems worthy of unsaying. It treats bodies generally not as wicked or ...
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Apophatic theology has little to (un)say about bodies, whereas it speaks volumes about that which it deems worthy of unsaying. It treats bodies generally not as wicked or repulsive, but as sites of obstruction, suffering, distraction. Since feminist theology as a collective comprises a critical mass of that body-affirming movement, and since some are also dangerously attracted to the apophatic way, the cloud of the impossible engulfs the present exploration from the start. Nicholas of Cusa oddly appears as a mediator both of method and of content. He would plunge one not into an empty chasm but into the “cloud of impossibility”. The necessity of entering the “cloud of impossibility” is no mere metaphysical inevitability, but an all too familiar experience. If we do not cling to a certainty whose oppositional purity we doubt anyway, we enter the Cusan cloud. Then we may relinquish the binary structure of the impasse itself. This chapter examines the cloud of the impossible and the relation between deconstruction and negative theology.Less
Apophatic theology has little to (un)say about bodies, whereas it speaks volumes about that which it deems worthy of unsaying. It treats bodies generally not as wicked or repulsive, but as sites of obstruction, suffering, distraction. Since feminist theology as a collective comprises a critical mass of that body-affirming movement, and since some are also dangerously attracted to the apophatic way, the cloud of the impossible engulfs the present exploration from the start. Nicholas of Cusa oddly appears as a mediator both of method and of content. He would plunge one not into an empty chasm but into the “cloud of impossibility”. The necessity of entering the “cloud of impossibility” is no mere metaphysical inevitability, but an all too familiar experience. If we do not cling to a certainty whose oppositional purity we doubt anyway, we enter the Cusan cloud. Then we may relinquish the binary structure of the impasse itself. This chapter examines the cloud of the impossible and the relation between deconstruction and negative theology.
Aydogan Kars
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190942458
- eISBN:
- 9780190942489
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190942458.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam, Theology
This chapter introduces the framework and the content of the book and discusses the basic conceptual problems revolving around “negative theology.” It argues that we should not only move from ...
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This chapter introduces the framework and the content of the book and discusses the basic conceptual problems revolving around “negative theology.” It argues that we should not only move from “negative theology” to “negative theologies” in order to approach Islamic intellectual landscapes, but we should also qualify the particular question of theology we are examining. Discussions of negative theology as such tend to confuse divine attributes and the divine essence and reduce apophaticism into a hunt for negative particles and statements. The chapter narrows down the scope of the book to the negative theologies of the divine essence. It also presents justifications for its boundaries and its linguistic preferences, and it defines some technical terms that appear throughout the book. It provides a conceptual introduction to negative theology and a compass to the subsequent chapters of the book.Less
This chapter introduces the framework and the content of the book and discusses the basic conceptual problems revolving around “negative theology.” It argues that we should not only move from “negative theology” to “negative theologies” in order to approach Islamic intellectual landscapes, but we should also qualify the particular question of theology we are examining. Discussions of negative theology as such tend to confuse divine attributes and the divine essence and reduce apophaticism into a hunt for negative particles and statements. The chapter narrows down the scope of the book to the negative theologies of the divine essence. It also presents justifications for its boundaries and its linguistic preferences, and it defines some technical terms that appear throughout the book. It provides a conceptual introduction to negative theology and a compass to the subsequent chapters of the book.
Sigridur Gudmarsdottir
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823230815
- eISBN:
- 9780823235087
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823230815.003.0013
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
The literary theorist Anne-Marie Priest argues that if poststructural scholars of religion have pointed out the connections between Derridean deconstruction and negative ...
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The literary theorist Anne-Marie Priest argues that if poststructural scholars of religion have pointed out the connections between Derridean deconstruction and negative theology, the affinities between feminist theories of sexual difference and negative theology have been less explored. By reading the early texts of philosopher Luce Irigaray on alterity and sexual difference, Priest claims apophatic practices at the heart of contemporary feminism of difference. She maintains that for those feminists who affirm sexual difference, woman-as-the-Other holds a place similar to that held by God for apophatic theologians. Irigaray sheds light on the “womanliness” of God, suggesting that God is both a model and an agent for the disruption of patriarchy and the creation of feminine subjectivity. For feminist theology, which is committed to the quest for the full humanity of women and to the end of their oppression within the Christian tradition, can anything sensible come out of this tradition of silence and unsaying? This chapter highlights some apophatic patterns within the field of feminist theology and considers the prospects of apophatic feminist theology.Less
The literary theorist Anne-Marie Priest argues that if poststructural scholars of religion have pointed out the connections between Derridean deconstruction and negative theology, the affinities between feminist theories of sexual difference and negative theology have been less explored. By reading the early texts of philosopher Luce Irigaray on alterity and sexual difference, Priest claims apophatic practices at the heart of contemporary feminism of difference. She maintains that for those feminists who affirm sexual difference, woman-as-the-Other holds a place similar to that held by God for apophatic theologians. Irigaray sheds light on the “womanliness” of God, suggesting that God is both a model and an agent for the disruption of patriarchy and the creation of feminine subjectivity. For feminist theology, which is committed to the quest for the full humanity of women and to the end of their oppression within the Christian tradition, can anything sensible come out of this tradition of silence and unsaying? This chapter highlights some apophatic patterns within the field of feminist theology and considers the prospects of apophatic feminist theology.
Chris Boesel
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823230815
- eISBN:
- 9780823235087
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823230815.003.0015
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter provides a very brief and very general characterization of a deconstructive reading of negative theology. It discusses, in addition to Jacques Derrida ...
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This chapter provides a very brief and very general characterization of a deconstructive reading of negative theology. It discusses, in addition to Jacques Derrida himself, the interpretations by John Caputo and Kevin Hart of Derrida's reading of Pseudo-Dionysius. Calling negative theology here, is, as all traditions, varied and multiform, and Derrida's deconstructive analysis and critique of one of its featured practitioners should in no way be taken as an authoritative representation of the tradition as a whole. The chapter then focuses on a certain apophatic desire of its own: a twofold desire—theologically, to “save the name” of God from human mastery, and in doing so, to ethically “save the neighbor” from the always toxic consequences of said mastery. The chapter then suggests an alternative strand of the theological tradition that may provide resources for the apophatic desire of theologically minded interpreters of deconstruction.Less
This chapter provides a very brief and very general characterization of a deconstructive reading of negative theology. It discusses, in addition to Jacques Derrida himself, the interpretations by John Caputo and Kevin Hart of Derrida's reading of Pseudo-Dionysius. Calling negative theology here, is, as all traditions, varied and multiform, and Derrida's deconstructive analysis and critique of one of its featured practitioners should in no way be taken as an authoritative representation of the tradition as a whole. The chapter then focuses on a certain apophatic desire of its own: a twofold desire—theologically, to “save the name” of God from human mastery, and in doing so, to ethically “save the neighbor” from the always toxic consequences of said mastery. The chapter then suggests an alternative strand of the theological tradition that may provide resources for the apophatic desire of theologically minded interpreters of deconstruction.
Merold Westphal
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823221301
- eISBN:
- 9780823235483
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823221301.003.0012
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter looks at Derrida's attempt to distinguish deconstruction from negative theology. In this context, it argues that Derrida opens the door without entering it, for ...
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This chapter looks at Derrida's attempt to distinguish deconstruction from negative theology. In this context, it argues that Derrida opens the door without entering it, for an Augustinian understanding of divine alterity in terms of the combined motifs of creation and fall, as developed by Augustine, as well as Aquinas and Bonaventure. In Heidegger's view one could not more eloquently express the danger that the metaphysical tradition represents. It follows that Nietzsche is a Neoplatonist in the grips of ontological xenophobia, while Heidegger is, if not an instance of the Augustinian faith that overcomes this fear of meeting a stranger, at least someone who deliberately holds open the space for such a possibility. The chapter presents this Neoplatonist/Augustinian typology as alternative and corrective to the Augustinian/Thomistic distinction presented by Tillich in his famous essay “The Two Types of Philosophy of Religion”.Less
This chapter looks at Derrida's attempt to distinguish deconstruction from negative theology. In this context, it argues that Derrida opens the door without entering it, for an Augustinian understanding of divine alterity in terms of the combined motifs of creation and fall, as developed by Augustine, as well as Aquinas and Bonaventure. In Heidegger's view one could not more eloquently express the danger that the metaphysical tradition represents. It follows that Nietzsche is a Neoplatonist in the grips of ontological xenophobia, while Heidegger is, if not an instance of the Augustinian faith that overcomes this fear of meeting a stranger, at least someone who deliberately holds open the space for such a possibility. The chapter presents this Neoplatonist/Augustinian typology as alternative and corrective to the Augustinian/Thomistic distinction presented by Tillich in his famous essay “The Two Types of Philosophy of Religion”.
Chris Boesel and Catherine Keller
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823230815
- eISBN:
- 9780823235087
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823230815.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
The ancient tradition of apophasis, or negative theology, concerns itself with the infinity called “God”. It says and unsays talk about that God. It falls speechless before a ...
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The ancient tradition of apophasis, or negative theology, concerns itself with the infinity called “God”. It says and unsays talk about that God. It falls speechless before a mystery that inspires more speech in the next moment. Surely the paradox entailed in this traditional apophatic gesture is mind-bending enough—speaking as unspeaking, knowing as unknowing, darkness as light—to keep us occupied for all these pages? The apophatic mystics—Jewish, Christian, Muslim—do surely speak. They speak and unspeak volumes. With uninhibited kataphasis (the presumed affirmative opposite of apophasis), at once confessional and speculative, liturgical and philosophical, they speak about God. The relation of the classic apophatic traditions to the body, and therefore to this split obligation between divine infinity and embodied finitude, may not be as straightforward as it appears at first blush. The problem posed by the apophatic gesture is also one of too great a distance, too radical a separation, between divine and creaturely reality; too absolute a sense of divine transcendence in relation to the finite realm of creaturely embodiment.Less
The ancient tradition of apophasis, or negative theology, concerns itself with the infinity called “God”. It says and unsays talk about that God. It falls speechless before a mystery that inspires more speech in the next moment. Surely the paradox entailed in this traditional apophatic gesture is mind-bending enough—speaking as unspeaking, knowing as unknowing, darkness as light—to keep us occupied for all these pages? The apophatic mystics—Jewish, Christian, Muslim—do surely speak. They speak and unspeak volumes. With uninhibited kataphasis (the presumed affirmative opposite of apophasis), at once confessional and speculative, liturgical and philosophical, they speak about God. The relation of the classic apophatic traditions to the body, and therefore to this split obligation between divine infinity and embodied finitude, may not be as straightforward as it appears at first blush. The problem posed by the apophatic gesture is also one of too great a distance, too radical a separation, between divine and creaturely reality; too absolute a sense of divine transcendence in relation to the finite realm of creaturely embodiment.
An Yountae
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780823273072
- eISBN:
- 9780823273126
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823273072.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This chapter examines the notion of the abyss as it has been developed within the tradition of Western philosophy and theology. It traces the abyss back to its first inception in Neoplatonic ...
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This chapter examines the notion of the abyss as it has been developed within the tradition of Western philosophy and theology. It traces the abyss back to its first inception in Neoplatonic philosophy by Plato and his Timaeus, followed by Plotinus who develops the traces of panentheist mysticism lurking in Plato’s system into the seed of negative theology. In the Neoplatonic tradition and medieval mysticism of Pseudo-Dioysius and Meister Eckhart, the abyss points to the theological crossroad in which finitude and infinity, creaturely vulnerability and divine potency intersect with each other. The paradoxical path of via negativa renders the abyss a site of uncertainty and unknowing in which both God and the self are uncreated (Eckhart). Subsequently, the ethical implication or potential of the abyss is probed via the works of contemporary philosophers (Jacques Derrida, Jean-Luc Marion, Slavoj Zizek) who engage negative theology from a postmodern perspective.Less
This chapter examines the notion of the abyss as it has been developed within the tradition of Western philosophy and theology. It traces the abyss back to its first inception in Neoplatonic philosophy by Plato and his Timaeus, followed by Plotinus who develops the traces of panentheist mysticism lurking in Plato’s system into the seed of negative theology. In the Neoplatonic tradition and medieval mysticism of Pseudo-Dioysius and Meister Eckhart, the abyss points to the theological crossroad in which finitude and infinity, creaturely vulnerability and divine potency intersect with each other. The paradoxical path of via negativa renders the abyss a site of uncertainty and unknowing in which both God and the self are uncreated (Eckhart). Subsequently, the ethical implication or potential of the abyss is probed via the works of contemporary philosophers (Jacques Derrida, Jean-Luc Marion, Slavoj Zizek) who engage negative theology from a postmodern perspective.
Aydogan Kars
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190942458
- eISBN:
- 9780190942489
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190942458.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam, Theology
In the centuries following al-Kindī, Muslim philosophers developed a coherent family of apophatic theological positions on the divine essence and its accessibility. The recurring aspects of this ...
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In the centuries following al-Kindī, Muslim philosophers developed a coherent family of apophatic theological positions on the divine essence and its accessibility. The recurring aspects of this philosophical apophaticism were (1) a negative theology of divine attributes that reads them as negations, (2) the unknowability of the divine essence, closely connected with an Aristotelian version of the Neoplatonic distinction between discursive thought [dianoia] and non-discursive intellection [noēsis], (3) the necessary dissimilarity of God as the first cause of everything else, and (4) a philosophical hermeneutics that protects divine oneness and dissimilarity. Most of these aspects were established in conversation with the Muʿtazilites. As early as al-Kindī, Muslim philosophers adopted such a philosophical apophaticism of the divine nature, which later would take diverse forms, while preserving strategic resemblances.Less
In the centuries following al-Kindī, Muslim philosophers developed a coherent family of apophatic theological positions on the divine essence and its accessibility. The recurring aspects of this philosophical apophaticism were (1) a negative theology of divine attributes that reads them as negations, (2) the unknowability of the divine essence, closely connected with an Aristotelian version of the Neoplatonic distinction between discursive thought [dianoia] and non-discursive intellection [noēsis], (3) the necessary dissimilarity of God as the first cause of everything else, and (4) a philosophical hermeneutics that protects divine oneness and dissimilarity. Most of these aspects were established in conversation with the Muʿtazilites. As early as al-Kindī, Muslim philosophers adopted such a philosophical apophaticism of the divine nature, which later would take diverse forms, while preserving strategic resemblances.
Don Cupitt
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823222032
- eISBN:
- 9780823235322
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823222032.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter describes Donald MacKinnon's inference that Kant's religious thought was a negative theology because its doctrine emphasizes God's superiority and that he must be removed beyond the ...
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This chapter describes Donald MacKinnon's inference that Kant's religious thought was a negative theology because its doctrine emphasizes God's superiority and that he must be removed beyond the reach of descriptive language. Kant fully accepted the idea that the old doctrine had collapsed and for him it was God's existence rather than his nature that was unknowable and God's nature that was not mysterious. It seems that Kant was deliberately setting out to contradict the element of authoritarian appeal to mystery in the old negative theology. Thus, Kant continued the themes of the old negative theology, and he even changed it considerably in order to make it intellectually and morally more acceptable. Though, Donald MacKinnon takes a very different view, still he insists on sticking to a more descriptive and realist interpretation of the major themes of traditional Christian theology because he thinks one should stay and endure the strange inflexible intellectual difficulties that such a position involves.Less
This chapter describes Donald MacKinnon's inference that Kant's religious thought was a negative theology because its doctrine emphasizes God's superiority and that he must be removed beyond the reach of descriptive language. Kant fully accepted the idea that the old doctrine had collapsed and for him it was God's existence rather than his nature that was unknowable and God's nature that was not mysterious. It seems that Kant was deliberately setting out to contradict the element of authoritarian appeal to mystery in the old negative theology. Thus, Kant continued the themes of the old negative theology, and he even changed it considerably in order to make it intellectually and morally more acceptable. Though, Donald MacKinnon takes a very different view, still he insists on sticking to a more descriptive and realist interpretation of the major themes of traditional Christian theology because he thinks one should stay and endure the strange inflexible intellectual difficulties that such a position involves.
