Reading Plass's book brought to mind something that I, as a minister, have been thinking about on and off over the last few years. 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? Unfortunately, that is largely not what people mean by the term, and apophatic methodology has spawned much unorthodox theology. In this way, using language confidently and univocally to describe God seems like trying to represent a singularity in paint it wouldnt do to rely on the artists impression because in many ways the nature of what is being represented is beyond and even the opposite to the medium being used. This 28 page pack contains quizzes, glossaries and possible exam questions to help structure your revision for all three of the A2 Philosophy topics. He has a wonderful excellence of beauty which cannot be rivaled anywhere in the creation. Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen, and Morton Kelsey are just three names among many in this stream. But I just cant do it, it seems to go against everything I know and experience of the gospel of our Lord. Who knows! Tackling the Application Essays, Leaving GCSE behind: Dealing with Christian Ethics (Old Spec), Panic My Exam is Tomorrow! Must Read for A2 R.S, What would Aquinas say about the Environment? I appreciate your question since it gives me an opportunity to clarify a sometimes-confusing issue. What can I do with an A Level in Philosophy, Ethics or Religious Studies? resourcefulness. Difficulty Asking Questions 14. We address doctrines and practices of Christian churches and organizations, as well as those of cults of Christianity. 806 8067 22 "Cataphatic" comes from the Greek word kataphasis meaning "affirmation,"[1] coming from kata (an intensifier)[2] and phanai ("to speak"). Copyright Get Revising 2023 all rights reserved. The problem with your view is that cataphatic theology without an apophatic foundation is straightforwardly idolatrous, substituting our mental representations of God for God himself. Copyright Get Revising 2023 all rights reserved. Seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you (Matthew 7:7). Uncountable universes generate from His body. All Spec and no play: Its Philosotree Time! Each of the following sentences contains at least one error in the use of semicolons, colons, dashes, parentheses, ellipsis points, brackets, italics (underlining), quotation marks, apostrophes, or hyphens. We can know God but never become Him or become part of Him. On other hand, Krishna has these 64 qualities in full. It shows itself in many of the medieval mystics. terminology that describes or refers to what the divine is believed to be, in contrast to the "negative" terminology used in apophatic theology to indicate what it is believed the divine is not. 1.1 Compare Criminal Behaviour and Deviance, Criminology WJEC Unit 1 Controlled Assessment Support, Coverall, Livestream and Question Analysis for 2022 Exam, Criminology WJEC Unit 3 Controlled Assessment Support, Teaching and Learning Reflections 2018-2019, Teaching and Learning Reflections 2019-2020, Perks of the Surface Go for Virtual Feedback, But Miss its the end of the lesson!: Perfect Plenaries. When I use the terms orthodox or orthodoxy, I mean them in their theological sense that a teaching is right or correct, as opposed to teaching that is heterodox or heretical. Impatience 8. Study the entries and answer the questions that follow. [3], Within Mahayana Buddhism, there is a species of scripture which essays a descriptive hint of Ultimate Reality by using positive terminology when speaking of it. If you are interested in trying a free Situational Strengths Test for yourself, you can do so at the Practice Aptitude Tests website. Weaknesses of Via Positiva Has it's limits - you can only get so far with what you sah God is on a different level to humans, so what we say means nothing in compares to God Can cause confusion and be misleading Sets found in the same folder DUALISM & MATERIALISM 13 terms morgancoker24 Religious Language 25 terms morgancoker24 To be able to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the via negativa. Thank you for reading my article and taking the time to respond with this question. The question of whether or not all monism, panentheism, and pantheism are at odds with intellectual assertions about God is, I think, only a bit more complex. It would be contrary to Christian belief to suggest that scripture is wrong or inaccurate. A recent Internet chat session with Koko showed just how difficult it is to. which side is correct in this debate. We prayerfully look to the person of Christ for salvation and when we seek Him we will find Him. What describes who God is as a person is His attributes which must be spoken of in positive terms. 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Recently I was asked about my thoughts on the difference between cataphatic and apophatic theology, and answered as follows: Cataphatic theology (theology through positive assertion about who God is sometimes spelled kataphatic) is the easiest of the two to address, being theology that says things about who God is. Creative Commons "Sharealike" Review. Via Positiva (The Cataphatic Way) Advantages. I believe the New Testament is essentially cataphatic without falling into dry scholasticism (for lack of a better word with which to label dead, intellectual orthodoxy). God is the source of truth (John 17:17), and He reveals this truth to us in His written Word, the Bible (2 Timothy 2:15). A snip for over 1,500 pages of resources. Chychrun joins Thomas Chabot and Jake Sanderson on the back end, while Brady Tkachuk, Alex DeBrincat . On the other hand, I note that cataphatic theology does not exclude mystical or ecstatic experience with God: I believe the New Testament is essentially cataphatic without falling into dry scholasticism (for lack of a better word with which to label dead, intellectual orthodoxy). Not everyone has the same understanding of different words, so God would appear differently to the individual person. Olson says, Apparently Athenagoras and later apophatic thinkers assumed that Gods perfection means being unlike anything createdThe result, of course, was a gradual diminishing of the biblical Gods personal nature (The Story of Christian Theology, p. 63). When the cataphatic theologian affirms attributes of God univocally they seem to be going beyond possible experience and beyond what the human mind can possibly comprehend. This manifestation of Buddhism is particularly marked in the Dzogchen and Tathagatagarbha forms of the religion. Richard Braithwaite argues that religious assertions serve primarily an ethical function. Or to say that God is not love, as he transcends even our notion of love. , List of possible questions for OCR RS A level with the Christianity option. "Why did you wait until the last minute?" As I read his descriptions of people he has known and how what I had in mind as a negative understanding of God had affected their faith, I brought to mind, of course, people I have also known who have been left damaged personally and spiritually by their understanding of God in negative terms. As long as this knowledge is part of an overall relationship that is in the true sense "mystical," cataphatic theology is biblical and is essential to real, theological discussion. It assumes we can know and understand God by, for example, studying creation and revelation, through prayer and reflection, and through religious experience. - Way of speaking about God using only negative language, talking about what God is not (e.g. Common strengths include leadership, communication, or writing skills. would be separate from the observer and thereby dualistic? It seems to me that you would be described in the first part of this statement and I describe the sentiment involved as fine.This is why I say I believe we do not disagree in substance but are simply using the two main terms in the article in different ways. St Pauls Place, Norfolk Street, Sheffield, S1 2JE. He has 64 transcendental qualities as Supreme Personality of Godhead, although these qualities are explained as non-material and beyond duality. Please download to a laptop or desktop computer and be patient, it is a very large file (348 MB). 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