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| + | #REDIRECT [[Negative Theology (Apophatic Theology)]] |
| − | '''Negative theology''' - also known as the '''''Via Negativa''''' ([[Latin]] for "Negative Way") and '''Apophatic theology''' - is a [[theology]] that attempts to describe [[God]] by [[negation]], to speak of God only in terms of what may not be said about God.
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| − | In brief, the attempt is to gain and express knowledge of God by describing what God is ''not'' ([[apophasis]]), rather than by describing what God ''is''. The apophatic tradition is often, though not always, allied with the approach of [[mysticism]], which focuses on a spontaneous or cultivated individual experience of the divine reality beyond the realm of [[perception|ordinary perception]], an experience often unmediated by the structures of traditional [[organized religion]] or learned thought and behavior.
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| − | ==Apophatic description of God==
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| − | In Negative theology, it is accepted that the Divine is [[ineffable]], an abstract experience that can only be recognized - that is, human beings cannot describe the essence of God, and therefore ''all'' descriptions if attempted will be false and conceptualization should be avoided:
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| − | * Neither [[existence]] nor nonexistence as we understand it applies to God, i.e., God is beyond existing or not existing. (One cannot say that God exists in the usual sense of the term; nor can we say that God is [[nonexistent]].)
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| − | * God is [[divine simplicity|divinely simple]]. (One should not claim that god is one, or three, or any type of being. All that can be said is, whatever God is, is not multiple independent beings)
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| − | * [[omniscience|God is not ignorant]]. (One should not say that God is wise since that word [[arrogance|arrogantly]] implies we know what wise means on a divine scale, whereas we only know what wise means to a man.)
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| − | * Likewise, God is not [[evil]]. (To say that God can be described by the word '[[good]]' limits God to what good means to human beings.)
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| − | * God is not a [[creation (theology)|creation]] (but beyond this we do not know how God comes to be)
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| − | * God is not conceptually definable in terms of [[space]] and [[location (geography)|location]].
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| − | * God is not conceptually confinable to assumptions based on [[time]].
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| − | Even though the ''via negativa'' essentially rejects theological understanding as a path to God, some have sought to make it into an intellectual exercise, by describing God only in terms of what God is not. One problem noted with this approach, is that there seems to be no fixed basis on deciding what God is not.
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| − | ==Philosophy==
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| − | [[Plato]], [[Socrates]] and [[Aristotle]] all have various references to the 'One' (To Hen) the ineffable God. [[Hesiod]] has in his creation ontological (see [[Theogony]]), [[Chaos (mythology)|Chaos]] begot the [[Protogenoi]], [[Eros (mythology)|Eros]], [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]] (Earth) and [[Tartarus]] who begot Darkness [[Erebus]] and night [[Nyx (mythology)|Nyx]]. Chaos being also akin to [[anarchos]]. Plato also repeats this ontology in [[Timaeus]] [http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/physis/plato-timaeus/gods.asp 40e, 41e]. [[Plotinus]] advocated negative theology in his strand of [[Neoplatonism]] "Our thought cannot grasp the One as long as any other image remains active in the soul…To this end, you must set free your soul from all outward things and turn wholly within yourself, with no more leaning to what lies outside, and lay your mind bare of ideal forms, as before of the objects of sense, and forget even yourself, and so come within sight of that One." Plotinus: ''Enneads''
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| − | == In Hinduism ==
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| − | Perhaps the most widespread use of Negative theology occurs in the [[Hindu]] scriptures, mainly the [[Upanishads]], where [[Vedantic]] [[theology|theologian]]s speak of the nature of [[Brahman]] - Supreme Cosmic Spirit as beyond human comprehension. “Whenever we deny something unreal, is it in reference to something real”[Br. Sutra III.2.22].
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| − | The [[Taittiriya]] hymn speak of Brahman as 'one where the mind does not reach'. Yet the scriptures themselves speak of Brahman's positive aspect also such as - "Brahman is Bliss." The idea of using these contradictory descriptions is to show that the attributes of [[Brahman]] is "similar" to one experienced by mortals but not exactly the "same" in quality or quantity.
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| − | Negative theology figures in the [[Buddhist]] and Hindu [[polemics]]. The arguments go something like this - Is Brahman an object of experience? If so, how do you convey this experience to others who have not had a similar experience? The only way possible is to relate this "unique" experience to common experiences but explicitly negating their sameness.
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| − | The most famous expression of Negative theology in [[Upanishads]] is found in the [[mantra|chant]], '''[[neti neti]]''', meaning "not this, not this," or "neither this, nor that" . In [[Brhadaranyaka Upanishad]], Yajnavalkya is questioned by his students on the nature of God. He states, "It is not this and it is not that" (neti, neti). Thus, God is not real as we are real, nor is He unreal. He is not living in the sense humans live, nor is he dead. He is not compassionate (as we use the term), nor is he uncompassionate. And so on. We can never truly define the Divine in words. In this sense, neti-neti is not a denial. Rather, it is an assertion that whatever the Divine may be, universally or personally, when we attempt to conceptualize or describe it, we limit our transcendent experience of "it."
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| − | == In Buddhism==
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| − | {{POV-section|Buddhism and God}}
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| − | Most schools do admit negative definitions of nirvana, which is unconfined to time, space, or even existence and non-existence. In the Nikayas, the Buddhist canon of scriptures, [[Gautama Buddha]] is recorded as describing Nirvana in terms of what it is not: "There is, monks, an unborn—unbecome—unmade—unfabricated." (Udana VIII.3).
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| − | Anatta, understood as "not-Soul," is the core adjective that forms the basis for most of Buddhist negative dialectics, wherein the core message to point to the Absolute and the soul in Buddhism is to deny Subjectivity and spiritual reality to any and all phenomena. Such as: "Form is anatta (not-Soul,) feelings are anatta, so too are perceptions, experiences, and empirical consciousness." [SN 3.196].
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| − | Anatta as a nihilistic dogma is a relatively modern secular conception only, of what was in earliest Buddhism, the methodology of negating (neti neti) all objective attributes falsely seen as Self/Soul, but which were in fact not the Soul (anatta). “None of these (aggregates) are my Soul indeed,” the most common passage in Buddhism. No place in Sutta does the context of anatta forward or imply the negation, the denial of the Soul "most dear, the light, the only refuge" [SN 2.100, AN 4.97], but rather, instructs and illuminates to the unlearned what the Soul was not.
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| − | The anatta taught in the Nikayas has merely relative value, it is not an absolute one. It does not say simply that the Soul (atta, Atman) has no reality at all, but that ego-conceptions (the 5 aggregates), with which the unlearned man identifies himself, are not the Soul (anatta) and that is why one should grow beyond them, become detached from them and be liberated. Yet becoming attached to "detachment" continues to turn the wheel of samsara. Since this kind of anatta does not negate the Soul as such, but rather, ensnares it more deeply into the ego's attachment to desire, the root of all suffering. The concept of annata, then, denies cognitive reality to those ego-conceptions that constitute the non-self (anatta), yet at the same time sets up another conception of "self" based on the delusional pursuit of "non-self." In this way, both the conception of "self" and the pursuit of "non-self" reveal themselves to be of no ultimate value. Instead of nullifying the atta doctrine—the pursuit of the "non-self," by negation as it were, the doctrine of the "non-self" proves itself to be a Way illuminated by the darkness that results from all mental conceptions about "soul" and "non-soul" leading to Nothing, or to sunyata, the concept of the Void which "is" beyond conceptions of presence and absence, beyond categorical thought, yet, like the Tao, remains inexhaustible and ever-present.
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| − | It is of course true that the Buddha denied the existence of the mere empirical “self” in the very meaning of “my-self” (this person so-and-so, namo-rupa,an-atta), one might say in accordance the Buddha frequently speaks of this Self, or Spirit (mahapurisha), and nowhere more clearly than in the too often repeated formula 'na me so atta’, “This/these are not my Soul” (na me so atta’= anatta/anatman), excluding body (rupa) and the components of empirical consciousness (vinnana/ nama), a statement to which the words of Sankhara are peculiarly apposite.
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| − | The apophatic, or via negativa philosophical methodology is extremely common in earliest existing Buddhist doctrine, the Nikayas.
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| − | == In other Eastern traditions ==
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| − | Many other East Asian traditions present something very similar to the apophatic approach: for example, the [[Tao Te Ching]], the source book of the Chinese [[Tao]]ist tradition, asserts in its first statement: the Tao ("way" or "truth") that can be described is not the constant/true Tao.
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| − | ==In the Christian tradition==
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| − | While many Christians work within the positive approach theology which, in keeping with revelation, 'personifies' God, some theologians argue that the first to articulate negative theology in [[Christianity]] was [[Paul of Tarsus|St Paul]] whose reference to the Unknown God in the book of Acts (Acts 17:23) which is the foundation of works such as that of [[Pseudo Dionysius]]. However, others will point to Paul's further (ambiguous) explanation that he is going to make the unknown god known (Acts 17:23) as an instance of Paul's use of [[Cataphatic theology|positive theology]]. He then goes on to describe God as Lord of heaven and earth, the one who made all nations and who is not far from each of us. Paul also used negative definitions to say that God is not served by human hands although this may be seen as a specific response to the human tendency to create psychological idols and/or shrines for the gods.
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| − | Exemplars of the ''via negativa'', the [[Cappadocian Fathers]] of the [[4th century]] said that they believed in God, but they did not believe that God exists. In contrast, making positive statements about the nature of God, which occurs in most other forms of Christian theology, is sometimes called '[[kataphatic theology]]'. Adherents of the apophatic tradition in Christianity hold that outside of directly revealed knowledge through Scripture and Tradition (such as the Trinitarian nature of God), God is beyond the limits of what humans can understand, and that further knowledge must be sought in a direct experience of the love (in Western Christianity) or the [[Energies of God|Love-Energies]]<ref>The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, SVS Press, 1997.James Clarke & Co Ltd, 1991 V Lossky pg 81. Retrieved November 25, 2007.</ref> (in Eastern Christianity) of God.
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| − | Negative theology played an important role early in the [[history of Christianity]], for example, in the works of [[Clement of Alexandria]]. Three more theologians who emphasized the importance of negative theology to an orthodox understanding of God were [[Gregory of Nyssa]], [[John Chrysostom]], and [[Basil the Great]]. [[John of Damascus]] employed it when he wrote that positive statements about God reveal "not the nature, but the things around the nature." It continues to be prominent in [[Eastern Christianity]] (see [[Gregory Palamas]]), and is used in contrast to kataphatic theology. Apophatic statements are crucial to much theology in [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christianity]] (see [[Vladimir Lossky]]).
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| − | In Orthodox theology Apophatic theology is taught as superior to kataphatic theology<ref>The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, SVS Press, 1997. James Clarke & Co Ltd, 1991 V Lossky pg 26. Retrieved November 25, 2007.</ref>. This is expressed in the idea that mysticism is the expression of theology ''par excellence''.<ref>The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, SVS Press, 1997. James Clarke & Co Ltd, 1991 V Lossky pg 9. Retrieved November 25, 2007.</ref>
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| − | Negative theology has a place in the Western Christian tradition as well, although it is definitely much more of a counter-current to the prevailing positive or kataphatic traditions central to [[Western Christianity]]. For example, theologians like [[Meister Eckhart]] and [[St. John of the Cross]] (San Juan de la Cruz), mentioned above, exemplify some aspects of or tendencies towards the apophatic tradition in the West. ''[[The Cloud of Unknowing]]'' and St John's ''[[Dark Night of the Soul]]'' are particularly well-known in the West.
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| − | Mother Theresa's own spiritual struggles have correspondences in the apophatic tradition.
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| − | ==In the Jewish tradition==<!-- This section is linked from [[Monism]] —>
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| − | In [[Jewish philosophy|Jewish belief]], God is defined as the [[Creationism|Creator]] of the universe: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" ([[Genesis]] 1:1); similarly, "I am God, I make all things" ([[Isaiah]] 44:24). God, as Creator, is by definition separate from the physical universe and thus exists outside of [[Philosophy of space and time|space and time]]. God is therefore absolutely different from anything else, and, as above, is in consequence held to be totally unknowable. It is for this reason that we cannot make any direct statements about God. (See ''[[Tzimtzum]]'' (צמצום): the notion that [[God]] "contracted" his [[infinite]] and indescribable essence in order to allow for a "conceptual space" in which a [[wiktionary:finite|finite]], independent [[world]] could exist.)
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| − | Alternatively, the construct of God incorporating all of reality is also offered in some schools of Jewish mysticism. Notably, in the Tanya (the Chabad Lubavitch book of wisdom), it is stated that to consider anything outside of God is tantamount to idolatry. [http://www.newkabbalah.com/CoincJewMyst.htm] The paradox that this introduces is noted by Chabad thinkers (how can an entity be a creator of itself), but the resolution is considered outside of the potential realm of human understanding.
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| − | [[Bahya ibn Paquda]] shows that our inability to describe God is similarly related to the fact of His [[Jewish principles of faith#God is One|absolute unity]]. God, as the entity which is "truly One" (האחד האמת), must be free of properties and is thus unlike anything else and indescribable; see [[Divine simplicity]]. This idea is developed fully in later [[Jewish philosophy]], especially in the thought of the [[medieval]] [[rationalist]]s such as [[Maimonides]] and [[Samuel ben Judah ibn Tibbon|Samuel ibn Tibbon]].
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| − | It is understood that although we cannot describe God directly (מצד עצמו) it is possible to describe Him indirectly via His attributes (תארים). The “negative attributes” (תארים שוללים) relate to God Himself, and specify what He is ''not''. The “attributes of action” (תארים מצד פעולותיו), on the other hand, do not describe God directly, rather His ''interaction'' with creation [http://www.aish.com/literacy/concepts/Understanding_God.asp]. [[Maimonides]] was perhaps the first Jewish Thinker to explicitly articulate this [[doctrine]] (see also ''[[Tanya]]'' ''[http://www.chabad.org/library/article.asp?AID=7994 Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah Ch. 8]''):
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| − | {{cquote|God's existence is absolute and it includes no composition and we comprehend only the fact that He exists, not His essence. Consequently it is a false assumption to hold that He has any positive [[Abstraction|attribute]]... still less has He accidents (מקרה), which could be described by an attribute. Hence it is clear that He has no positive attribute whatever. The negative attributes are necessary to direct the mind to the truths which we must believe... When we say of this being, that it exists, we mean that its non-existence is impossible; it is living — it is not dead; ...it is the first — its existence is not due to any cause; it has power, wisdom, and will — it is not feeble or ignorant; [[Jewish principles of faith#God is One|He is One]] — there are not more Gods than one… Every attribute predicated of God denotes either the quality of an action, or, when the attribute is intended to convey some idea of the Divine Being itself — and not of His actions — the [[negation]] of the opposite. (''[[Guide for the Perplexed]]'', [http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/gfp/gfp.htm 1:58]) }}
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| − | In line with this formulation, attributes commonly used in describing God in [[Rabbinic literature]], in fact refer to the "negative attributes" — [[omniscience]], for example, refers to non-ignorance; [[omnipotence]] to non-impotence; unity to non-plurality, eternity to non-temporality. Examples of the “attributes of action” are God as Creator, Revealer, Redeemer, Mighty and Merciful [http://www.aish.com/literacy/concepts/Understanding_God.asp]. Similarly, God’s perfection is generally considered an attribute of action. [[Joseph Albo]] ([[Joseph Albo#Ikkarim|''Ikkarim'']] [http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/mahshevt/ikarim/b6-2.htm#3 2:24]) points out that there are a number of attributes that fall under both categories simultaneously. Note that the various [[Names of God in Judaism]], generally, correspond to the “attributes of action” — in that they represent God as he is known. The exceptions are the [[Tetragrammaton]] (Y-H-W-H) and the closely related "[[Names of God in Judaism#Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh|I Am the One I Am]]" (אהיה אשר אהיה — [[Exodus]] 3:13-14), both of which refer to God in his "negative attributes," as absolutely independent and uncreated; see [[Names of God in Judaism#The Tetragrammaton|further]] under "Names of God in Judaism."
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| − | Since two approaches are used to speak of God, there are times when these may conflict, giving rise to [[paradox]]es in [[Jewish philosophy]]. In these cases, two descriptions of the same phenomenon appear [[contradiction|contradictory]], whereas, in fact, the difference is merely one of perspective: one description takes the viewpoint of the "attributes of action" and the other, of the "negative attributes." See the paradoxes described under [[Free will in Theology#In Jewish thought|free will]], [[Divine simplicity]] and [[Tzimtzum]].
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| − | ==See also==
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| − | *[[anatta]]
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| − | *[[Christian meditation]]
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| − | *[[conceptions of God]]
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| − | *[[deconstruction-and-religion]]
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| − | *[[existence of God]]
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| − | *[[God]]
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| − | *[[mysticism]]
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| − | *[[names of God]]
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| − | *[[neti neti]] ("not this, not that," in Hindu traditions)
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| − | *[[postmodern Christianity]]
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| − | *[[Tzimtzum]] (Jewish tradition)
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| − | *[[weak theology]]
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| − | ==Notes==
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| − | <references/>
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| − | ==References==
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| − | *''The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church'', SVS Press, 1997. (ISBN 0-913836-31-1) James Clarke & Co Ltd, 1991 V Lossky.
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| − | *"Paradoxes," in "The Aryeh Kaplan Reader," [[Aryeh Kaplan]], Artscroll 1983, ISBN 0-89906-174-5
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| − | *[http://www.aish.com/literacy/concepts/Understanding_God.asp Understanding God], Ch2. in "The Handbook of Jewish Thought," Aryeh Kaplan, Moznaim 1979, ISBN 0-940118-49-1
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| − | ==External links and resources==
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| − | *'''General'''
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| − | **[http://www.seop.leeds.ac.uk/entries/god-necessary-being/ God and Other Necessary Beings], Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved November 25, 2007.
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| − | *'''Christian material'''
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| − | **[http://atheism.about.com/od/theology/a/negative.htm Negative Theology]. Retrieved November 25, 2007.
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| − | **[http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/a/apophatic_theology.html Apophatic theology], The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. Retrieved November 25, 2007.
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| − | **[http://bahai-library.com/personal/jw/my.papers/apophatic.html Saying Nothing about No-Thing: Apophatic Theology in the Classical World], Jonah Winters. Retrieved November 25, 2007.
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| − | *'''Jewish material'''
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| − | **[http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/mahshevt/hovot/1a-2.htm 1:8]. Retrieved November 25, 2007.
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| − | **Bahya ibn Paquda, [http://www.torah.org/learning/spiritual-excellence/classes/doh-1-8.html Online class], Yaakov Feldman. Retrieved November 25, 2007.
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| − | **[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=2101&letter=A Attributes], jewishencyclopedia.com. Retrieved November 25, 2007.
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| − | [[Category:Philosophy and religion]]
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