It is hard work so far, but there are definite points of connection between todays blog ramblings and Taylors thesis. Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen, and Morton Kelsey are just three names among many in this stream. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. For example, God cannot be evil, because to be evil is to fall short, something which a changeless, timeless, perfect God cannot do. Religious believers are more inclined to take positively about God. Over the last few weeks in Blantyre I had managed to read only 40 pages or so of Adrian Plass's book Jesus: Safe, Tender, Extreme. The SWOT analysis is a recognized tool to identify an organization, department, product, or service's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. In this way, using language confidently and univocally to describe God seems like trying to represent a singularity in paint it wouldnt do to rely on the artists impression because in many ways the nature of what is being represented is beyond and even the opposite to the medium being used. A SWOT analysis is a technique used to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for your business or even a specific project. OCR Apophatic & Cataphatic Way. Common strengths include leadership, communication, or writing skills. Philosophers meet Social Media: Homework get creative! Nirvana, for example, is equated with the True Self of the Buddha (pure, uncreated and deathless) in some of the Tathagatagarbha scriptures, and in other Buddhist tantras (such as the Kunjed Gyalpo or 'All-Creating King' tantra), the Primordial Buddha, Samantabhadra, is described as 'pure and total consciousness' - the 'trunk', 'foundation' and 'root' of all that exists.[4]. 'God is not bad'), - 6th century Christian thinker, mystic, and was v. influential for many medieval Christian writers, - Also supporter of Via Negativa/Apophatic Way, - Speaking about God using positive language, - Philosopher Ian Ramsey wrote book "Religious Language" in 1975, - Another way, like analogy, of understanding how religious language can be used to talk positively about God, - German-American theologian and philosopher (1886-1965). Get Revising is one of the trading names of The Student Room Group Ltd. Register Number: 04666380 (England and Wales), VAT No. Rohr, Laird, and Bourgeault are all part of a stream of spirituality within Christendom that is much closer to Buddhism than it is to orthodox Christianity. One interesting development among the mystics was a strong tendency to replace sound theology with the Eastern idea of divinization (ortheosis, which the Eastern Orthodox have modified in recent times), a pantheistic or at least panentheistic view of the deity, and a union with God that is often more akin to the idea of nirvana in which one is absorbed into God. We can know God but never become Him or become part of Him. It tried to give the states as much power as possible, but with this came many weaknesses. If we are made in Gods imagine then we can use our speech Written by Peter Johnston on 07 July 2010. This way of unknowing has persisted in various manifestations such as the Hesychasm of Eastern Orthodoxy. For Aquinas, what can be affirmed of God and in what sense needs to be even more strictly controlled than Anselm suggests, to prevent the imprecision in the use of religious language that attends on Cataphatic theology and subsequent misunderstandings. All Spec and no play: Its Philosotree Time! Via Positiva (The Cataphatic Way) Advantages. However, for those of us who have a more negative approach to life this view of God, while undoubtedly fitting well with a negative view of life, can have a devastating affect that may lead to spiralling despair. The meaning of attributes affirmed of God is not to be understood univocally, although there is still some meaning. Conditions. Examiners Report 2017: What can we learn? The best approach to understanding religious language is through the cataphatic way'. That God is beyond all duality because God contains within himself all things and that God is beyond all things. Out with the Old and in with the New: OCR Spec Changes. Recently I was asked about my thoughts on the difference between cataphatic and apophatic theology, and answered as follows: Cataphatic theology (theology through positive assertion about who God is sometimes spelled kataphatic) is the easiest of the two to address, being theology that says things about who God is. In my article How Certain is Faith Absolutely Certain I explain that faith must be more than an intellectual persuasion. St Anselm, Explain the aim of life bought by Eastern Churches (Eastern Orthodox), Greek term for likeness and unity with God, We can apply Gods attributes Thus, I think it would be accurate to say that Bourgeaults Nondual Christianity is more consistent with apophatic theology since she does advocate a transcending of the mind through centering prayer, and since she does refer by name to traditional, apophatic theologians. Common weaknesses include a fear of public speaking, lack of experience with software or a program, or difficulty with taking criticism. Uncountable universes generate from His body. honestly they are inspirational, engaging and save me so much time! Olson says, Apparently Athenagoras and later apophatic thinkers assumed that Gods perfection means being unlike anything createdThe result, of course, was a gradual diminishing of the biblical Gods personal nature (The Story of Christian Theology, p. 63). terminology that describes or refers to what the divine is believed to be, in contrast to the "negative" terminology used in apophatic theology to indicate what it is believed the divine is not. This trade injects yet another key contributor to the Sens' impressive 26-and-younger core. It tried to help the union become a fair union. Once Experienced Never Forgotten A tour of Auschwitz, You cant be religious and a humanist: Humanism Explored. For Anselm, the world of the forms the metaphysical concepts of justice, beauty, truth are more real than the partial, contingent world we experience through the senses. All of them take an unorthodox approach to the theology of God and prayer. In the Monologion St Anselm argued that we are able to understand the world through concepts that exist in our mind because our mind comprehends God as their ultimate form. Applying human words to God can only lead to misunderstanding. The Cataphatic Way is sometimes called the Via Positiva; it uses language confidently and positively to describe God, as a painter might use paints confidently and positively to represent what is in front of them. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so aremy ways.Isaiah 55:8-9. Is one of the most natural ways of talking about God. As such He was able to atone as only God can for the sin for which man must pay. It also has to be carefully noted, that these qualities manifest in jiva-atmas only in minute qualities, and only if they become pure devotees of Krishna-Caitanya. [3], Within Mahayana Buddhism, there is a species of scripture which essays a descriptive hint of Ultimate Reality by using positive terminology when speaking of it. I took seminary courses in church history from a very reserved (and highly respected) scholar who was quite slow to attribute bad sounding labels to any figure without thorough justification. What are some employee strengths? By this approach, if somebody says God is good, they mean much the same as if they said St Anselm is good. Brainscape helps you realize your greatest personal and professional ambitions through strong habits and hyper-efficient studying. Most people, and most Philosophers, tend towards the Aristotelian model of concepts being built out of experiences, which are primary, rather than experiences being understood through concepts which precede them as in the Platonic way. A kataphatic way to express God would be that God is love. Tes Global Ltd is This was one of the core tenets of the works of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. "Why did you wait until the last minute?" 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Please download to a laptop or desktop computer and be patient, it is a very large file (348 MB). He is surrounded by devotees endowed with wonderful love of Godhead. The apophatic way as taught by Saint Dionysus was to remove any conceptual understanding of God that could become all-encompassing, since in its limitedness that concept would begin to force the fallen understanding of mankind onto the absolute and divine. This is intentionally so, as the point of this way of thinking is to remove ourselves from the language we are so used to using about God so that we can explore what one mystic described as the "Great Cloud of Unknowing". What are some common strengths and weaknesses? There has been a resurgence of interest in mysticism and contemplative prayer in the 20th and 21st centuries most of which has roots in apophatic theology. John de Ruiter College of Integrated Philosophy, The Church of Almighty God (Eastern Lightning). For those believers and theologians working with an everlasting, personal model of God supported by religious experience and/or a priori faith in the revealed status of the Bible arguably mostly for Protestants the Cataphatic Way is the natural and therefore the best way to understand religious language. 806 8067 22, Registered office: International House, Queens Road, Brighton, BN1 3XE, Religious Language: negative, analogical or symbolic, Religious Language (Via Negativa, Via Positiva and Symbol), OCR A level Religious Studies - Philosophy paper predictions , Religious Studies 2018 Philosophy OCR as Level Paper? God's importance and separation with Earth is kept sacred. St Pauls Place, Norfolk Street, Sheffield, S1 2JE. Some religious believers are uncomfortable when it comes to relating God to the contingent world around us, and so prefer to make no attempt to understand him. Thank you. The world around us in contingent, and forever-changing. All teachers who hold to these views make intellectual assertions about the divine but ultimately say that to find ones unity with the divine one must transcend the limitations of the mind. Example strengths for job interviews Being adaptable Being proactive Building relationships Being willing to go above and beyond to help others Coming up with innovative solutions Communicating in writing Delegating For Maimonides, this leaves open the possibility of using language in a negative sense to leave an impression of what God is. receipt, loaves. //]]>. The potter is not made of clay and a skilled potter is capable of making a bad pot. We're going to win this championship! EXAMPLE: Do you have a reciept for the loafs of bread? It prevents anthropomorphic statements being made about God. 2000-2022 Ferryhill ParishChurch of Scotland. These authors to whom you refer all identify with the apophatic theology of which I speak in the article above. God is on a different level to humans, so what we say means nothing in compares to God As Randall argues, symbols also invite a response and so acknowledge that what people are doing when they affirm Gods attributes is not just inert description. According to researchers, strengths and weaknesses are highly contextual and dependent on the mix of our values, goals, interests, and situational factors. As I read his descriptions of people he has known and how what I had in mind as a negative understanding of God had affected their faith, I brought to mind, of course, people I have also known who have been left damaged personally and spiritually by their understanding of God in negative terms. It assumes we can know and understand God by, for example, studying creation and revelation, through prayer and reflection, and through religious experience. We address doctrines and practices of Christian churches and organizations, as well as those of cults of Christianity. What we can say about God is not something we should seek to relegate to intellectual propositions unrelated to the God we know by experience. Doubtless, someone will say something like, But all I mean by apophatic theology is that we must experience God after we speak of who He is. If that is all they mean, that is fine. Registered office: International House, Queens Road, Brighton, BN1 3XE. Cataphatic way (via positiva): a range of ways when speaking about God and . Ultimately, one would come to remove even the notion of the Trinity, or of saying that God is one, because divine is above numberhood. 3 strengths of cataphatic way A Not univocal do avoids anthromphorphicly speaking of GodNot equivocal so avoids agnostiicism - idea that Gods nature and existence can't be known Aquinas - has to be postive in order to have philosophical or theology debates and descusions 8 Q 2 weaknesses of cataphatic way A To speak of God or the divine kataphatically is thought by some to be by its nature a form of limiting to God or divine. ApologeticsIndex.org is published by Anton Hein together with his wife, Janet, and the Apologetics Index team. Jesus was the God/Man, fully God yet fully man when He became incarnate. Time Saving Tips: University Essays and Coursework, The Happening: Nickel Mines School Tradegy, Must Know: C grade Minimum for AS (Old Spec), Vicar in the Hot Seat: Views on AS Application Topics (Old Spec), Consulting the Crystal Ball: Predicting your AS Ethics Questions (Old Spec), Panic My Exam is Tomorrow! Must Read for AS R.S, What does that mean? Understanding AS Ethics Questions, What would Kant say about Abortion? Symbolic language draws attention to its difference and its specific relation to theology and in both cases, what is affirmed of God invites discussion and interpretation and discourages people from taking things on face value. Strength Regulation Worksheet. As John Milbank explains, words have primary and secondary usages which are connected but not the same. What we can say about God is not something we should seek to relegate to intellectual propositions unrelated to the God we know by experience. ; Truth-claim: a statement that asserts something is factually true; Apophatic way (via negativa): a way of speaking about God and using theological ideas using only terms that say what God is not. It might be the best way of understanding what somebody already knows about God and/or religion on some other basis, but it might not be the best way of coming to understand something new about God and/or religion. I will speak of the whole delta of apophatic theology but others will doubtless say I am not fair to their particular stream or part of the swamp. But I have never sat an exam before! Strategies to Help Students Excel. Get Revising is one of the trading names of The Student Room Group Ltd. 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