Religious Language

Cognitive and Non-cognitive Language

Congitive- Makes a factual claim

Non-congitive- Does not make a factual claim and is instead an opinion, feeling or wish

Apophatic Way / Via Negativa

• We cannot speak postively about God

• Maimonides: The only postive thing we can say is that He exists.

• Other than that we can only speak negatively (say what God is not) e.g. ‘God is not subject to limitations‘

• Maimonides used the example of describe a ship (e.g. ‘not a plant‘)

• People use the Via negativa because God is beyond our comprehension and our human language

• Using human language leads too anthropomorphism.

• God is beyond assertion, only negative terms can be used to preserve the mystery and ‘otherness‘ of God

• Eriugene- ‘no creature can comprehend God‘

Strengths and Criticisms of the Apophatic Way

Strengths

• Avoids anthropomorphism- and making other misakes about God

• Preserves God’s transcendence and ‘otherness‘

• Consistent with William James’ criteria that religious experiences are ‘ineffable’

Criticisms

• WR Inge says that speaking of God in this way leads to annihilation. if we can’t speak of God, what is the point of believeing in God?

• The Bible uses postive terms to describes God, e.g. ‘God is love‘

• Leads to the loss of connection between humanity and God.

Cataphatic Way / Via Postiva- Analogy

Belief that we can make postive statements about God.

Aquinas makes analogy as a middle way between univocal and equivocal language

• Analogy of Attribution- Our qualities relflect God’s qualities. If a Bull’s urine is good the bull is also good, same way how human qualities are pale refection of God

• Analogy of Proper Proportion- The same term can be applied to two different subjects in a way that is patially similar and partially different, based on their respective natures. E.g. calling a 10 year old footballer and a Premier League footballer ‘good‘, it is the same property, in different proportion (they are both good at different degrees).

Strengths and Criticisms of Cataphatic Way- Analogy X

Strengths

• Avoids annihilation whilst also avoiding anthropomorphism

• Helps humans understand God whilst empasising differences.

• Makes sense that we can say something about God based on our expriences in world He has created

Criticisms

• Still only provides a limited understanding of God- not clear how much meaning of words such as ‘good‘ or ‘faithful‘ can be transferred to God. Beyond our comprehension.

• Hard to know how far meaning is stretched, or if it can be carried over from human to divine at all.

• Brummer: Analogy gives the llusion of saying something when your are actually not saying anything at all.

Cataphatic Way / Via Postiva- Symbol X

Paul Tillich- Symbolic Language

• Tillich believes we cannot speak literally of God

• God is the ‘ground of all being‘- epistemic distance

• All religious language is symbolic (spiritual connection to God)

• Sign and Symbol- Tillich highlights the differences. A sign, points to something and a symbol, we participate in.