Via Positiva (The Cataphatic Way)

Created by: bucky1991
Created on: 28-10-19 10:02


	Via Positiva (The Cataphatic Way)
	Advantages God's importance and separation with Earth is kept sacred. The via positiva does not attempt to know absolute truths about God, only his incomprehensible nature. Is one of the most natural ways of talking about God. Religious believers are more inclined to take positively about God. Does not allow for the chance o reject God. Positive imagery of God promotes a stronger sense of faith within the religious community.	Disadvantages Statements/ assumptions abut God can never be assumed to be true. All experience with God is ineffable. Univocal language used ("God is Good") seems to go beyond any human understanding of what 'good' means. Not everyone has the same understanding of different words, so God would appear differently to the individual person. The world around us in contingent, and forever-changing. When we attempt to apply our words to God, misunderstandings will happen.
	Evaluation The cataphatic pathway is a positive and an easy-to-digest way of describing God. Despite the idea that they make n effort to claim that they do- in fact- know absolute truths about God, how can we even begin to understand who He is? 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. This may discourage some, so ideas of relation are prefered. God does not become limited in his description, and his separation with the universe is kept intact.

Via Positiva (The Cataphatic Way)

Advantages

God's importance and separation with Earth is kept sacred. The via positiva does not attempt to know absolute truths about God, only his incomprehensible nature.
Is one of the most natural ways of talking about God. Religious believers are more inclined to take positively about God.
Does not allow for the chance o reject God. Positive imagery of God promotes a stronger sense of faith within the religious community.

Disadvantages

Statements/ assumptions abut God can never be assumed to be true. All experience with God is ineffable.
Univocal language used ("God is Good") seems to go beyond any human understanding of what 'good' means.
Not everyone has the same understanding of different words, so God would appear differently to the individual person.
The world around us in contingent, and forever-changing. When we attempt to apply our words to God, misunderstandings will happen.

Evaluation

The cataphatic pathway is a positive and an easy-to-digest way of describing God. Despite the idea that they make n effort to claim that they do- in fact- know absolute truths about God, how can we even begin to understand who He is? 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. This may discourage some, so ideas of relation are prefered. God does not become limited in his description, and his separation with the universe is kept intact.

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Via Positiva (The Cataphatic Way)