Apophatic Theology

[Truthstalker]

I’ve been reading up on Orthodoxy. What do you guys think of apophatic theology? In my humble and ignorant opinion, the EO go overboard with it. God revealed Himself in Christ, but they seem to be of the opinion that what He did NOT reveal is more important than what He did reveal. They seem to want to turn the God of revelation into the Unknown God.

 

[Ghosty]

I’ve been reading up on Orthodoxy. What do you guys think of apophatic theology? In my humble and ignorant opinion, the EO go overboard with it. God revealed Himself in Christ, but they seem to be of the opinion that what He did NOT reveal is more important than what He did reveal. They seem to want to turn the God of revelation into the Unknown God.

Some people can go overboard with apophatic theology, but in its original sense it simply means that God is so infinite and incomprehensible that everything we say about God is actually less than what God is. It’s an important theological principle, and one upheld in the Latin tradition by folks like St. Thomas Aquinas and St. John of the Cross.

Taken too far it does become a “theology of nothing”, however. I don’t know if most Eastern Orthodox theologians really take it to such an extent, though I’ve seen lay apologists do so.

Peace and God bless!

 

[bpbasilphx]

You are quite right, Ghosty.

In real life, Orthodoxy does NOT take apophaticism to the extent that the OP is thinking.

I can assure you of that.