If you are given 10m of fencing and told to enclose the biggest space possible, you would most probably make the biggest circle you can with it. However, you could also stand on the inside of this circle and declare yourself to be on the outside of the fence, thereby 'enclosing' the rest of the universe. The Via Negativa or Apophatic Way essentially works in the same way.
1 of 5
Pseudo-Dionysius
"...in a manner which goes beyond speech and knowledge, we embrace those truths which, in the same way, move beyond them, into a union with God which goes beyond our use of discursive or intuitive reason. Therefore, we must not dare to speak, or to form any conception of the hidden ... Godhead, beyond those things revealed to us by Holy Scripture."
He wrote about the need for the soul to become unified with God by going beyond the realms of sense perception and rationality, entering obscurity, a 'cloud of unknowing', from which God can be approached.
Believed that the soul's search for God can be held back by the demands of the body and the mind's desire for complete understanding.
Argued that it is counter-productive to speak of God as though He can be perceived by the senses or be reached by reason - it is only through the recognition of the limits of humanity that spiritual progress can be made
People who are genuinely seeking God should put away their need to have answers to everything; they shouldstop trying to use logic and arguments. Instead, they should allow God to speak to them in stillness, accepting that God will remain a mystery, and realising that until they are ready to accept this, they will miss the point and end up with an idea of God that is too small.
2 of 5
Moses Maimonides
"I do not merely declare that he who affirms attributes of God has not sufficient knowledge concerning the Creator [...] but I say that he unconsciously loses his faith in God."
Ship example - can eventually reach a notion of God through a process of elimination.
3 of 5
Strengths of Via Negativa
Recognises that we have to go beyond our normal everyday experiences and language in order to encounter God
Does not place a limit on God by giving a point of reference that is within the physical world
It is a way of conveying the essential otherness and mystery of God
A way to say something about God which is literally true and does not require interpretation
Applies in different cultures
Could be useful for people who already believe, as a reminder not to belittle God in speech & imagination
4 of 5
Criticisms of Via Negativa
Brian Davies: can easily arrive at a different conclusion (ship), we cannot understand God if we only know what he is not
Process of elimination - need to know what the possibilities are so we can know what's left when all the alternatives have been crossed off
To say that white is 'the opposite of black' does not give much help to the person who has never seen, and has no concept of, 'white'.
Comments
No comments have yet been made