Aquinas

• what did Aquinas say?

  we only have day to day language to talk about God. When a word is applied to God it has a different meaning from everyday use.
• What did he believe we use to describe God?

  As we understand God as perfect we use analogies. Analogy - applied to God = "greater than"
• what did he reject?

  previous attempts at speaking about God.
• why did he reject via negativa?

  limits what via positiva things can be said about God
• why did he reject equivocal language?

  could not convey no information about God, only different from us.
• why did he reject univocal language?

  Limits God since it failed to take into account the transcendence of God.
• why did he believe we apply to help understand God.

  we can apply words that describe human qualities and characteristics to God to help our understanding. Relationship between God and humans.
• God created the world and sustained it = comparison. Made in Gods image = similarities.
• what is his analogy of attribution?

  applies when a term used within reference to one thing, is applied to a second thing because the one causes the other. God = source of love, "God loves us"
• what is his analogy of proportionality?

  occurs when a word is employed to refer to a quality that a thing possesses in proportion to the kind of reality it possesses - we can have an insight about God from human experience - not limiting God's power