analogy

anthropomorphism

assigning human characteristics something non-human such as an animal or god.

analogy

• the use of comparison between two dissimilar or similar things towards the end of explaining a separate concept.

• this is one of the methods used to explain belief in god.

Aristotle

• his theory is that if two things share a common attribute then what may be true for one of the pair will be true for the other.

aristotle’s different methods of judging analogies

• the strength of an analogy is dependent on how similar the two things which are being compared.

• he argues that similarities within analogies can be found only in things which have the same properties.

• sound analogies will have a strong common denominator

• good arguments or analogies do not rely on assumed knowledge regarding the common denominator.

via negativa

the negative theology or the apophatic way

is the idea that we cannot use human language to effectively describe god as god goes beyond our human understanding of these words.

we cannot make positive assertions about god, but we are able to make assertions about what god is not, and we can gain knowledge from this.

via positiva

cataphatic way

it posits that we can know and understand elements of god by the way in which the scriptures describe him.

aquinas