Movement 123

not sure what you
believe? we look at
the background to
aspects of christian
thought, doctrine and
belief
neglative theolo€y
Negative theology ... as opposed to what?
Positive theology, of course! StThomas Aquinas had a
lot to say about both positive and negative theology.
But Aquinas was a Roman Catholic Christian. lsn't
negative theology just another term for atheism?
No. Aquinas thought that negative theology (or
sometimes apophatic theology) had a role to play in
the discourses of Christianity. He thought that Cod
could be explained positively by analogy, but that
these descriptions (i.e. 'God is...') were inadequate
in some ways. Hence, negative theology.
So what is it?
The practice of understanding Cod by what Cod
is not. ln other words, when you say 'God is not a
tree', you're saying what God is by stating what God
is not. This method of theologising has long been
used in mystical writings from across the Christian
traditions, but perhaps most notably in the Eastern
Orthodox church.
But what's the point of it? Surely there are some
things we can state positively about Cod without
needing to go that far.
It's likely that there are ... and that they can be understood
by this approach! The Vra Negativa (Latin
for 'negative way') sheds a lot of light on our assumptions
about how much we can know about
Cod. As the theologian Denys Turner says, 'Negative
theology does not mean that we are short of
things to say about Cod; it means just that everything
we say of Cod falls short of him.'
How so?
ln this line of thinking, there's no necessity that ties
us to describing Cod's essence, like you might find
in a number of theological approaches that are quite
prevalent today. I mean, when was the last time you
heard a sermon in which the preacher refrained from
making an explicit positive statement about God?
Hang on a sec though ... what about Cod's revelation
throughout history? lf we take that as read, then the
universe must'be loaded with positive affirmations
of what Cod is really like - Cod's essence.
Negative theology sees our knowledge of Cod as limited
to what Cod has revealed. Does Cod's historical
revelation really show us Cod, or merely reveal something
of Cod's purposes? lt's worth pondering.
So what kinds of conclusions have these negative
theologians come to?
Often they address some of humanity's biggest
questions in an unconventional but, some might
argue, particularly profound way. The Cappadocian
doctrine fior
I
I
Fathers, who lived in the fourth century, claimed to
believe in God, but did not believe that Cod existed.
Similarly, the twentieth century French mystic
Simone Weil decided, by using the apophatic way,
that God was neither existent nor non-existent.
there's no difference between
God's existence and God's [onexistence
in any empirical sense
whv?
Because she wanted to show that Cod is not a being
within the world in any ordinary sense - Cod
doesn't exist in any tangible way to our sense experience,
as a chair or an iPod might:'To believe in
God is not a decision we can make'. On the other
hand, she is often defined as a Christian mystic and
philosopher with no qualms about seeking Cod's
presence within each one of us.
But surely that's illogical! Cod must either exist or
not exist.
It could be suggested that there's no difference between
Cod's existence and God's non-existence in
any empirical sense. Meister Eckharl again, says that
'Cod is a "being transcending being and a transcending
nothingness"'. Besides, it's not like there are any
knock-down arguments, right? People are still arguing
and thinking about all this after centuries of debate.
I suppose ... but if we can't grasp God's essence or
nature, how can we experience God at all?
Through Cod's immanence, of course! lt is precisely
because of the absoluteness of the divine
transcendence that Augustine can speak of Cod as
more intimate to us than we are to ourselves.
What particular opportunities can negative theology
afford then in our culture?
There are strong mystical and apophatic traditions
that run throughout Christianity's history, from the
gospels and letters, through such works as The
Cloud of Unknowing, right up to the present day
with spiritual writers such as Thomas Merton and
theologians like Karl Rahner. As a result, negative
theology can perhaps still act as a necessary
counter-balance to theologies that may seem to
over-stretch into the realms of mystery. EM Forster
called the faith 'poor little talkative Christianity';
perhaps it's time to be humble and remember that
that which we cannot say is sometimes more meaningful
than that which we can... I
Rob Telford is
an ex-Theology
student from
Cardiff.
movement 25