Citizendia
Your Ad Here

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. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Theology is the study of a god or the gods from a religious perspective God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. In Logic and Mathematics, negation or not is an operation on Logical values for example the logical value of a Proposition

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 ordinary perception, an experience often unmediated by the structures of traditional organized religion or learned thought and behavior. Mysticism (from the Greek grc μυστικός mystikos, an initiate of a Mystery religion) is the pursuit of communion with identity In Psychology and the Cognitive sciences perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory Information. A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos

Contents

Apophatic description of God

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 ultimately false and conceptualization should be avoided:

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.

Philosophy

Plato and Aristotle both have various references to the 'One' (Greek: To Hen), the ineffable God. Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. To say that something is " ineffable " means that it cannot or should not be expressed in spoken words (as with the concept of true love or some Taboo) Hesiod has in his creation ontology (see Theogony) that Chaos begot the Protogenoi: Eros, Gaia (Earth) and Tartarus, who begot Erebus (Darkness) and Nyx (Night). Hesiod ( Greek: Hesiodos) was an early Greek Poet and Rhapsode, who presumably lived around 700 BCE Theogony ( Greek: Θεογονία theogonia = the birth of God(s is a Poem by Hesiod describing the origins and genealogies For the state of disarray see Chaos. In Greek mythology Chaos ( Xάος) or Khaos is the original state of existence from which In the Greek mythology the name Protogenoi (pl Gr, sing Protogenos) means First Born or Primeval and are a group of deities who were born in the beginning Gaia (ˈgeɪə or /ˈgaɪə/ (" land " or " Earth " from the Ancient Greek Γαîα also Gæa or Gea In classic Greek mythology below Heaven, Earth, and Pontus is Tartarus, or Tartaros ( Greek Τάρταρος deep place In Greek mythology, Erebus or Erebos ( Ancient Greek:, English translation: "deep blackness/darkness or shadow" was the son of a primordial Chaos is also akin to anarchos. Plato repeats this ontology in Timaeus 40e, 41e. Plotinus advocated negative theology in his strand of Neoplatonism. Plotinus ( Greek:) (ca AD 204–270 was a major philosopher of the ancient world who is widely considered the founder of Neoplatonism (along with his Neoplatonism (also Neo-Platonism) is the modern term for a school of religious and mystical Philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century AD founded by From the Enneads: "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. "

In Islam

The Arabic term for "Negative theology" is Lahoot salbi, which is a "System of theology" or Nizaam al lahoot in Arabic. Different traditions/doctrine schools in Islam called Kalam schools (see Divisions of Islam) use different theological approaches or Nizaam al lahoot in approaching God or the ultimate reality. For other meanings including people named 'Islam' see Islam (disambiguation. Kalām (علم الكلام is the Islamic philosophy of seeking Islamic theological principles through Dialectic. God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. Reality, in everyday usage means "the state of things as they actually exist" The Lahoot salbi or "Negative theology" involves the use of ta'til, which means "negation", and the followers of the Mu'tazili school of Kalam, founded by Imam Wasil ibn Ata, are often called the Mu'attili, because they are frequent users of the ta'til methodology. Muʿtazilah ( Arabic المعتزلة al-mu`tazilah) is a theological school of thought within Sunni Islam. Kalām (علم الكلام is the Islamic philosophy of seeking Islamic theological principles through Dialectic. TemplateInfobox Muslim scholars --> Wasil ibn Ata (700–748 (واصل بن عطاء was a Muslim theologian

Shia Islam is the sect that adopted Mu'tazili theological views and hence "Negative theology". Muʿtazilah ( Arabic المعتزلة al-mu`tazilah) is a theological school of thought within Sunni Islam. Most Salafi/Athari adherents reject this methodology because they believe in a literal anthropomorphic image of God, but the majority of orthodox Muslims, who are Ashari by Kalam use ta'til to some extent, if not completely. Athari ( al-Athariyya) in English is translated as textualism which is derived from the Arabic word Athar, which means "Narrations" God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. The Ash'ari theology ( Arabic الأشاعرة al-asha`irah) is a school of early Muslim speculative theology founded by the theologian Abu al-Hasan The Sufis greatly depend on the use of ta'til in their spirituality, though they often also use Cataphatic theology. Sufism ( تصوّف - taṣawwuf, Persian: صوفی‌گری sufigari, Turkish: tasavvuf, Urdu: تصوف Cataphatic (sometimes spelled kataphatic theology is the expressing of God or the divine by what is or expressing God through positive terminology

In Hinduism

Perhaps the most widespread use of Negative theology occurs in the Hindu scriptures, mainly the Upanishads, where Vedantic theologians speak of the nature of Brahman - Supreme Cosmic Spirit as beyond human comprehension. A Hindu ( Devanagari: हिन्दू is an adherent of the philosophies and scriptures of Hinduism, a set of religious, Philosophical The Upanishads ( Devanagari: उपनिषद् IAST: upaniṣad also spelled "Upanisad" are Hindu scriptures that constitute the core teachings Vedanta ( Devanagari: sa वेदान्त Vedānta) is a spiritual tradition explained in the Upanishads that is concerned with the Self-realisation Theology is the study of a god or the gods from a religious perspective Brahman ( bráhman-, Nominative bráhma sa ब्रह्म is a concept of Hinduism. “Whenever we deny something unreal, is it in reference to something real”[Br. Sutra III. 2. 22].

The Taittiriya hymn speak of Brahman as 'one where the mind does not reach'. The Taittiriya Shakha is a notable Shakha ("rescension" of the Black Yajurveda. 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. Brahman ( bráhman-, Nominative bráhma sa ब्रह्म is a concept of Hinduism.

Negative theology figures in the Buddhist and Hindu polemics. Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices Polemics (pəˈlɛmɪks/ /poʊ- is the practice of disputing or controverting religious, philosophical, or political matters 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.

The most famous expression of Negative theology in Upanishads is found in the chant, neti neti, meaning "not this, not this", or "neither this, nor that" . The Upanishads ( Devanagari: उपनिषद् IAST: upaniṣad also spelled "Upanisad" are Hindu scriptures that constitute the core teachings A mantra ( Devanāgarī मन्त्र (or mantram is a religious or mystical syllable or poem typically from the Sanskrit language In Hinduism, and in particular Jnana Yoga and Advaita Vedanta, neti neti is a chant or Mantra, meaning "not this not this" or In Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, Yajnavalkya is questioned by his students on the nature of God. The Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upanishad ( Sanskrit: बृहदारण्यक उपनिषद् is one of the older "primary" ( Mukhya He states, "It is not this and it is not that" (neti, neti). In Hinduism, and in particular Jnana Yoga and Advaita Vedanta, neti neti is a chant or Mantra, meaning "not this not this" or 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. "

In Buddhism

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. Siddhārtha Gautama ( Sanskrit; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual Teacher from Ancient India and the founder " (Udana VIII. 3).

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].

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.

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 conceptionns of presence and absence, beyond categorical thought, yet, like the Tao, remains inexhaustible and ever-present.

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.

The apophatic, or via negativa philosophical methodology is extremely common in earliest existing buddhist doctrine, the Nikayas.

In other Eastern traditions

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 Taoist tradition, asserts in its first statement: the Tao ("way" or "truth") that can be described is not the constant/true Tao. The Tao Te Ching or Dao De Jing ( originally known as Laozi or Lao tzu ( is a Chinese classic Tao ( 道, Pinyin Dào) is a metaphysical concept found in Taoism, Confucianism, and more generally in ancient Chinese philosophy

In the Christian tradition

Both Judaism and Christianity are traditionally believed by their adherents to be based upon revelation. Judaism (from the Greek Ioudaïsmos, derived from the Hebrew יהודה Yehudah, " Judah " in Hebrew יַהֲדוּת Yahedut Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings Revelation is the act of revealing or disclosing (see etymology or in the theological perception making something obvious and clearly understood through active or passive communication That is to say, that God positively inspired the writing of scripture, thus revealing something of Himself to mankind. Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin This is especially important in Christianity, which teaches that the Logos (the Second Person of the Trinity) became incarnate. grc-Latn Logos (ˈloʊːgɒs ( Greek, logos) is an important term in Philosophy, Analytical psychology, Rhetoric and Religion SSC RF "Troitsk Institute of Innovative and Termonuclear Research" or TRINITY for shprt Троицкий Институт инновационных и термоядерных The Incarnation is the belief in Christianity that Jesus Christ is the God of Israel in the flesh As a result, Christian theology tends toward positive statements about God, known as cataphatic theology. Theology is the study of a god or the gods from a religious perspective Cataphatic (sometimes spelled kataphatic theology is the expressing of God or the divine by what is or expressing God through positive terminology

At the same time, there are portions of scripture which are believed to articulate apophatic theology. For instance, God's appearance to Moses in the Burning Bush, and the ineffable Name of God (יהוה) which was revealed at that time. Moses ( Latin: Moyses,; Greek: grc Mωυσής in both the Septuagint and the New Testament; Arabic: ar موسىٰ The burning bush is an object described by the Book of Exodus as being located on Mount Horeb; according to the narrative the bush was on fire but was not consumed To say that something is " ineffable " means that it cannot or should not be expressed in spoken words (as with the concept of true love or some Taboo) See also Yahweh Tetragrammaton (from the Greek, meaning ' of four letters' (tetra "four" + gramma (gen Another example is the theophany to Elijah, where God reveals Himself in a "still, small voice" (1 Kings 19:11-13). Theophany, from the Greek, theophaneia (meaning "appearance/showing of God" refers to the appearance of a Deity to a human or to a divine disclosure Elijah or Elias ( was a Prophet in Israel in the 9th century BC St. Paul's reference to the "Unknown God" in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 17:23) is sometimes pointed to as an apophatic statement. Paul the apostle (שאול התרסי Šaʾul HaTarsi, meaning " Saul of Tarsus " Σαούλ Saul and Σαῦλος Saulos and The Acts of the Apostles is a book of the Bible, which now stands fifth in the New Testament. However, others will point to Paul's further explanation that he is going to make the unknown god known (Acts 17:23) as an instance of Paul's use of positive theology. Paul 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 or shrines for the gods. A shrine, from the Latin scrinium (‘box’ also used as a desk like the French bureau) was originally a container usually made of precious materials used In his First Epistle to Timothy, Paul argues that God is incomprehensible in His essence, "dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see" (1 Timothy 6:16). The First Epistle to Timothy is one of three letters in New Testament of the Bible often grouped together as the Pastoral Epistles. These and other such mystical examples in scripture underly apophatic theology.

Tertullian says, “That which is infinite is known only to itself. Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, Anglicised as Tertullian, (ca This it is which gives some notion of God, while yet beyond all our conceptions—our very incapacity of fully grasping Him affords us the idea of what He really is. He is presented to our minds in His transcendent greatness, as at once known and unknown. ”[1]

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, in his Catechetical Homilies says: "For we explain not what God is but candidly confess that we have not exact knowledge concerning Him. Saint Cyril of Jerusalem (Κύριλλος Α΄ Ἱεροσολύμων was a distinguished theologian of the early Church (ca A catechism (ˈkætəkɪzəm κατηχισμός is a summary or exposition of Doctrine, traditionally used in Christian religious teaching from New Testament A homily is a commentary that follows a reading of scripture In the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, and in the Eastern Orthodox Church For in what concerns God to confess our ignorance is the best knowledge. "[2]

The Cappadocian Fathers of the 4th century said that they believed in God, but they did not believe that God exists in the same sense that everything else exists. The Cappadocians (or Cappadocian philosophers, Cappadocian Fathers) are significant figures in the history of the Church Fathers, who significantly As a means of recording the passage of Time, the 4th century (per the Julian calendar and Anno Domini / Common era) was that Century That is to say, everything else that exists was created, but the Creator transcends even existence. The essence of God is completely unknowable; mankind can only know God through His energies. In Philosophy, essence is the attribute or set of attributes that make an object or substance what it fundamentally is and which it has by necessity Historical context The Energies of God are a central principle of Theology in the Eastern Orthodox Church, understood by the orthodox Fathers

Apophatic theology found its most influential expression in works such as those of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite and Maximus the Confessor (Pseudo-Dionysius is quoted by Thomas Aquinas 1,760 times in his Summa Theologica). Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, also known as Pseudo-Denys, is the anonymous theologian and philosopher of the late 5th to early 6th century whose Corpus Areopagiticum Saint Maximus the Confessor (also known as Maximus the Theologian and Maximus de Constantinople) (c The Summa Theologica (or the Summa Theologiae or simply the Summa, written 1265 &ndash 1274) is the most famous [3]

In contrast, making positive statements about the nature of God, which occurs in most Western forms of Christian theology, is sometimes called cataphatic theology. Western Christianity is a term used to cover the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church, the Churches of the Anglican Communion, the Lutheran Church Cataphatic (sometimes spelled kataphatic theology is the expressing of God or the divine by what is or expressing God through positive terminology Eastern Christianity makes use of both apophatic and cataphatic theology. Families of churches Eastern Christians have a shared tradition but they became divided ( Schism) during the early centuries of Christianity in disputes about Adherents of the apophatic tradition in Christianity hold that, outside of directly-revealed knowledge through Scripture and Sacred Tradition (such as the Trinitarian nature of God), God in His essence is beyond the limits of what human beings (or even angels) can understand; He is transcendent in essence (ousia). Sacred Tradition or Holy Tradition is a technical theological term used in some Christian traditions primarily in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox An angel is a Spiritual Supernatural being found in many Religions Although the nature of angels and the tasks given to them vary from tradition to tradition Ousia () is the Ancient Greek noun formed on the feminine present participle of ( to be) it is analogous to the English participle Further knowledge must be sought in a direct experience of God or His indestructible energies through theoria (vision of God). Historical context The Energies of God are a central principle of Theology in the Eastern Orthodox Church, understood by the orthodox Fathers Theoria (Greek) is Greek for Contemplation or 'the perception of Beauty regarded as a Moral faculty' ( OED) [4][5] In Eastern Christianity, God is immanent in his hypostasis or existences. Immanence, derived from the Latin in manere "to remain within" refers to philosophical and metaphysical theories of the divine as existing and acting within the mind [6].

Negative theology played an important role early in the history of Christianity, for example, in the works of Clement of Alexandria. Saint Clement of Alexandria (born Titus Flavius Clemens) (c150 - 211/216 was the first notable member of the Church of Alexandria, and one of its most 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. Gregory of Nyssa ( Greek: Άγιος Γρηγόριος Νύσσης Latin: Gregorius Nyssenus; Arabic: غريغوريوس النيصي This article refers to the Christian saint For other uses of the name see Chrysostomos. Basil of Caesarea, also called Saint Basil the Great (c 330 – January 1, 379) (Άγιος Βασίλειος ο Μέγας Latin John of Damascus employed it when he wrote that positive statements about God reveal "not the nature, but the things around the nature. Chrysorrhoas redirects here For the river see Barada. Saint John of Damascus ( Arabic: يوحنا الدمشقي " It continues to be prominent in Eastern Christianity (see Gregory Palamas). Families of churches Eastern Christians have a shared tradition but they became divided ( Schism) during the early centuries of Christianity in disputes about Saint Gregory Palamas (Γρηγόριος Παλαμάς (1296 - 1359 was a monk of Mount Athos in Greece and later the Archbishop of Apophatic statements are crucial to much modern theologians in Orthodox Christianity (see Vladimir Lossky, John Meyendorff, John S. Romanides and Georges Florovsky). The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian Communion in the world Vladimir Nikolayevich Lossky (Владимир Николаевич Лосский &ndash February 7, 1958) was an influential Eastern Orthodox John Meyendorff ( February 17, 1926 - July 22, 1992) was a modern Orthodox scholar writer and teacher John S Romanides (1928–2001 was a Greek Orthodox Priest and Professor who for a long time represented the Greek Church to the World Council of Georges Vasilievich Florovsky ( Russian Георгий Васильевич Флоровский) ( August 23, 1893

In Orthodox theology, apophatic theology is taught as superior to cataphatic theology. [7] This is expressed in the idea that mysticism is the expression of dogmatic theology par excellence. Mysticism (from the Greek grc μυστικός mystikos, an initiate of a Mystery religion) is the pursuit of communion with identity [8]

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 cataphatic 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. Meister Eckhart OP (c 1260–c 1328 is the most common formula used to refer to Eckhart von Hochheim, a German theologian For another saint who lived around the same time and area see John of Avila. The medieval work, The Cloud of Unknowing and St John's Dark Night of the Soul are particularly well-known in the West. The Cloud of Unknowing is a practical spiritual guidebook thought to have been written in the latter half of the 14th century by an anonymous English Monk

Mother Theresa's own spiritual struggles have correspondences in the apophatic tradition. Mother Teresa, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, (born August 26, 1910 – September 5, 1997) was an Albanian ref>Spink

C. S. Lewis, in his book Miracles, advocates the use of negative theology when first thinking about God, in order to cleanse our minds of misconceptions. Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963 He goes on to say we must then refill our minds with the truth about God, untainted by mythology, bad analogies or false mind-pictures. Analogy is both the cognitive process of transferring Information from a particular subject (the analogue or source to another particular subject (the target and

It should be noted that while negative theology is used in Christianity as a means of dispelling misconceptions about God, and of approaching Him beyond the limits of human reasoning, an uninformed or extreme negative theology can lead one outside the pale of Christianity. Misconceptions is an American Sitcom television series for The WB Network for the 2005-2006 season that never aired Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings The Bible teaches emphatically that God exists, and speaks of God as Father, as Son and as Holy Spirit. Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin The father is defined as the Male Parent of an offspring The Adjective "paternal" refers to father parallel to "maternal" for SON DNA binding protein, also known as SON, is a human Gene. In mainstream Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is one of the three entities of the Holy Trinity which make up the single substance The Christian God has certain positive attributes, and Christians believe that these are knowable to men in some measure, if only in a limited way. The term "Godhead" The term Godhead is a term denoting deity or divinity Thus, Christians believe God is indeed good, but that His goodness is above and beyond our understanding of goodness and is thus only partially comprehensible to us.

Gnosticism

In Gnosticism, the supreme being is thought of as lacking specific gender, qualities, or desire. Gnosticism (γνώσις gnōsis, Knowledge) refers to a diverse Syncretistic Religious movement consisting of various Belief systems See the Apocryphon of John.

In the Jewish tradition

In Jewish belief, God is defined as the 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). Jewish philosophy refers to the conjunction between serious study of philosophy and Jewish theology "Creationism" can also refer to Creation myths in general or to a concept about the origin of the soul. Isaiah (; Greek:, Ēsaiās; Arabic: اشعیاء, Ash-ee-yaa; "Salvation of/is YHWH " is God, as Creator, is by definition separate from the physical universe and thus exists outside of space and time. Philosophy of space and time is the branch of Philosophy concerned with the issues surrounding the Ontology, Epistemology, and character of Space 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 finite, independent world could exist. In Jewish Mysticism, Tzimtzum (צמצום Hebrew: "contraction" or "constriction" refers to the notion in the Kabbalistic theory of God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. Infinity (symbolically represented with ∞) comes from the Latin infinitas or "unboundedness "The world " is a proper noun for the planet Earth envisioned from an Anthropocentric or Human Worldview, as a place )

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. [1] 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.

Bahya ibn Paquda shows that our inability to describe God is similarly related to the fact of His absolute unity. Bahya ben Joseph ibn Paquda (also Pakuda Bakuda Hebrew: בחיי אבן פקודה) was a Jewish philosopher and Rabbi who lived at Saragossa Although Jews and religious leaders share a core of monotheistic principles Judaism has no formal statement of principles of faith such as a Creed or Catechism 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. In Theology, the doctrine of divine simplicity says that God is without parts This idea is developed fully in later Jewish philosophy, especially in the thought of the medieval rationalists such as Maimonides and Samuel ibn Tibbon. Jewish philosophy refers to the conjunction between serious study of philosophy and Jewish theology In Epistemology and in its broadest sense rationalism is "any view appealing to Reason as a source of knowledge or justification" (Lacey 286 Moses Maimonides ( March 30 1135 – December 13 1204) also known as the Rambam, was a Rabbi, Physician, and Samuel ben Judah Ibn Tibbon, more commonly known as Samuel ibn Tibbon ( Hebrew: שמואל בן יהודה אבן תבון, Arabic:

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 [2]. Maimonides was perhaps the first Jewish Thinker to explicitly articulate this doctrine (see also Tanya Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah Ch. 8):

“ God's existence is absolute and it includes no composition and we comprehend only the fact that He exists, not His essence. Moses Maimonides ( March 30 1135 – December 13 1204) also known as the Rambam, was a Rabbi, Physician, and Doctrine (Latin doctrina) is a codification of beliefs or "a body of teachings quot or "instructions" taught principles or positions as the Note Tanya Rabbati, a 16th century Italian code of Jewish law, is an unrelated work with a similar name Consequently it is a false assumption to hold that He has any positive attribute. --> Abstraction is the process or result of generalization by reducing the information . . 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; 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. Although Jews and religious leaders share a core of monotheistic principles Judaism has no formal statement of principles of faith such as a Creed or Catechism In Logic and Mathematics, negation or not is an operation on Logical values for example the logical value of a Proposition (Guide for the Perplexed, 1:58) ”

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. This page refers to the 12th century book by Maimonides For the 1977 book by E Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense can mean the entire spectrum of Rabbinic writings throughout Jewish history Omniscience (ɒm'nɪsɪəns (or Omniscient Point-of-View in writing is the capacity to know everything infinitely or at least everything that can be known about a character Omnipotence ( Omni Potens: "all Power " is unlimited power Examples of the “attributes of action” are God as Creator, Revealer, Redeemer, Mighty and Merciful [3]. Similarly, God’s perfection is generally considered an attribute of action. Joseph Albo (Ikkarim 2:24) points out that there are a number of attributes that fall under both categories simultaneously. Joseph Albo ( Hebrew: יוסף אלבו) (c 1380–1444 was a Jewish philosopher and Rabbi who lived in Spain during the Joseph Albo ( Hebrew: יוסף אלבו) (c 1380–1444 was a Jewish philosopher and Rabbi who lived in Spain during the 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. In Judaism, the name of God is more than a distinguishing title The exceptions are the Tetragrammaton (Y-H-W-H) and the closely related "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 further under "Names of God in Judaism". See also Yahweh Tetragrammaton (from the Greek, meaning ' of four letters' (tetra "four" + gramma (gen In Judaism, the name of God is more than a distinguishing title Exodus ( Greek: έξοδος eksodos = "departure" is the second book of the Jewish Torah and of the Christian Old Testament. In Judaism, the name of God is more than a distinguishing title

Since two approaches are used to speak of God, there are times when these may conflict, giving rise to paradoxes in Jewish philosophy. A paradox is a true statement or group of statements that leads to a Contradiction or a situation which defies intuition; or inversely Jewish philosophy refers to the conjunction between serious study of philosophy and Jewish theology In these cases, two descriptions of the same phenomenon appear 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". In Classical logic, a contradiction consists of a logical incompatibility between two or more Propositions It occurs when the propositions taken together yield See the paradoxes described under free will, Divine simplicity and Tzimtzum. Free will might be a good model for a longer lead--> Free will in theology is an important part of the debate on Free will in general In Theology, the doctrine of divine simplicity says that God is without parts In Jewish Mysticism, Tzimtzum (צמצום Hebrew: "contraction" or "constriction" refers to the notion in the Kabbalistic theory of

References

  1. ^ Tertullian, Apologeticus, § 17
  2. ^ Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem (c. Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, Anglicised as Tertullian, (ca Saint Cyril of Jerusalem (Κύριλλος Α΄ Ἱεροσολύμων was a distinguished theologian of the early Church (ca 335), “Catechetical Homilies, VI §2”, in Schaff, Philip, Nicene and Ante-Nicene Fathers (2nd Series), vol. Philip Schaff ( January 1, 1819 – October 20, 1893) was a Swiss -born German -educated Protestant VII, Peabody, Mass. : Hendrickson Publishers, Inc. , 1994, p. 33, <http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf207.ii.x.html>. Retrieved on 1 February 2008 
  3. ^ Kallistos (Ware), bishop (1963), The Orthodox Church, London: Penguin Group, p. Timothy Ware (born 1934) also known as His Excellency the Most Reverend Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia, is a titular Metropolitan of the Eastern 73, ISBN 0-14-020592 
  4. ^ Lossky, Vladimir (1997), The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, Crestwood, N. Vladimir Nikolayevich Lossky (Владимир Николаевич Лосский &ndash February 7, 1958) was an influential Eastern Orthodox Y. : SVS Press, p. Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary is an Orthodox Christian Seminary located in Crestwood New York in the United States. 81, ISBN 0-913836-31-1
  5. ^ Lossky (1997), The Vision of God, Crestwood, N. Y. : SVS Press, pp. 36-40, ISBN 0-913836-19-2
  6. ^ Papanikolaou, Aristotle (2006), Being With God: Trinity, Apophaticism, and Divine-Human Communion (1st Edition), Notre Dame, Indiana:University of Notre Dame Press, p. The University of Notre Dame Press is a University press that is part of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, United States. 2, ISBN-13: 978-0268038304
  7. ^ Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church (op cit) p. 26
  8. ^ Ibid. , p. 9

See also

External links and resources

© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
 Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic