Via Negativa

• What does via negativa mean?

  The negative way. Describe something as what it is not to reach the conclusion of what it is
• What is the kataphatic approach?


  Use prayer as a way of expressing God by saying what he is
• What is the apophatic approach?


  Prayer is about being silent and opening the mind to God to infuse the experience
• Why is via negativa a good approach?

  By saying what God is not, we do not anthropomorphise him, we see him as his own being
• What did Pseudo Dionysius say?

  Because God is beyond all human understanding, we can only use via negativa. It was counter productive to speak of God as if he could be encountered by senses
• What did Maimondes say?

  The ship analogy. Lists what each person learns the ship is not. Eventually they learn what it is through process of elimination
• Why did Brian Davies reject this approach?

  It is impossible to understand. Only saying what something is not gives no indication of what it actually is. Someone could be thinking of something entirely different which happens to have the same properties. You'd have to be extremely specific
• Example Paragraph of Via Negativa A01 1/2

  Via negativa aims to describe God by using negative terms to say what he is not. This avoids misleading claims about God’s nature. For example, if one was to describe God as Father, we would view him as a human because that is what our idea of Father is whereas God is a metaphorical Father.
• Example Paragraph of Via Negativa A01 2/2

  Pseudo Dionysius said that via negativa was the only way in which we can speak truthfully about God because he is beyond all human understanding and we should think of him as a mysterious being that cannot be interpreted by our senses. If we say what he is, we deny God the sorts of qualities and limitations that might apply to other beings