table: for n against apophatic way

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it is easy to use language to describe everyday things and events (eg a table; a chair; the sunshine; human love). but God is different - transcendent. His full nature is indescribable with language. human language is limited and inadequate when it comes to trying to describe something so ‘other’ as God

the Apophatic way could not exist without the cataphatic way. to say that ‘God is not something’ depends upon positive language. for example, to say that God is not visible requires the use of the positive term ‘visible’

human language is drawn from the ordinary, everyday world. to use it when describing God brings God down to the human level. for example, when God is described by people as ‘loving’, they are using a human model of ‘love’ to describe a quality possessed by God. doing this actually misrepresents God and gives an inaccurate understanding of God

the Apophatic way does not lead us towards an understanding of God at all. all it does is reject any knowledge of God. a Christian who followed the Apophatic way as a way of gaining understanding about God ends up learning nothing about God at all

by using negative words we achieve a more accurate understanding of God than the inaccuracies of positive language

God is not just a transcendent reality but also an immanent reality. He intervenes in the world. He makes himself known to human, for example through Jesus Christ. He makes His presence felt through the Holy Spirit. God is not completely beyond human experience and understanding but very much a part of human experience and understanding

William James argues that a feature of religious experiences of God is that they are ineffable. words and concepts from human experience do not adequately capture the experiences of God people sometimes have

human language is adequate to describe God because God has revealed Himself through divinely inspired Scripture. the Bible is made up of words revealed or inspired by God. we can learn about God’s qualities - His love, justice, goodness, power, fatherhood, etc - through reading the divine Word revealed by God Himself

most apophatic mystics acknowledge the importance of the cataphatic way as a way of understanding God. Dionysius begins with the cataphatic way and progresses onto the apophatic way. the cataphatic way gives us a good - but some would argue incomplete - understanding of God

human language can be transformed by God’s inspiration. writers of the Bible use human language but they are guided by God’s wisdom in the form of the Holy Spirit

apophatic christians are concerned that when people use human language to describe God they inevitably misrepresent God and this would be the same as blasphemy. to describe God is to lie about God

we can get an idea of what God is like by contrasting with what God is not like. for example, God is not-visible (invisible), not-finite (infinite), not-mortal (immortal) and not-changeable (immutable)

dionysius talks about states or stages of understanding God. this begins with using positive language (the cataphatic way) but works its ways up to the apophatic stage, whereby God is understood only through negatives. in the final stage of understanding, Dionysius says that God is “not soul or mind, not greatness or smallness, not equality or inequality, not movable, moving or at rest, does not live nor is it life, is neither oneness nor goodness, is not sonship or fatherhood, is neither darkness or light.”