Changes

Another way to speak about God is the way of symbolism. This was developed by Paul Tillich who said religious language “must begin with the most abstract and completely unsymbolic statement as possible, namely, that God is being-itself or The Absolute”. Tillich defines God as transcendent and completely beyond our ordinary experience with his one literal claim about God. After his one literal statement about God, however, Tillich holds that all further statements regarding God must be symbolic as nothing more can be literally said about Him without misrepresenting Him. The literal statement is necessary for symbolic language as there must be something for symbolic language to be symbolic about. However, the way of symbolism’s main weakness lies in this literal statement, namely, whether it can be literal. What does “the Absolute” or “being-itself” literally mean? It is not clear, so then is the foundation of symbolic language and, therefore, all subsequent symbolic statements that are derived from it making the way of symbolism extremely unstable.

Another way to speak about God is the way of symbolism. This was developed by Paul Tillich who said religious language “must begin with the most abstract and completely unsymbolic statement as possible, namely, that God is being-itself or The Absolute”. Tillich defines God as transcendent and completely beyond our ordinary experience with his one literal claim about God. After his one literal statement about God, however, Tillich holds that all further statements regarding God must be symbolic as nothing more can be literally said about Him without misrepresenting Him. The literal statement is necessary for symbolic language as there must be something for symbolic language to be symbolic about. However, the way of symbolism’s main weakness lies in this literal statement, namely, whether it can be literal. What does “the Absolute” or “being-itself” literally mean? It is not clear, so then is the foundation of symbolic language and, therefore, all subsequent symbolic statements that are derived from it making the way of symbolism extremely unstable.

http://www.1guyand1cup.com/

[http://www.1guyand1cup.com/ God bless America! TITS or GTFO!]

Via Negativa is a different way to speak about God altogether. The way of Analogy, Metaphor and Symbolism concerns themselves with devising a manner in which positive statements can be made about God. The Via Negativa holds that, since part of Gods nature is ineffability, it is impossible to make an affirmative statement about God. If we do try to make statements about God there is a danger that we will misrepresent God by assigning false attributes to him. The Via Negativa (or Negative Way) states that the only way to meaningfully represent God with statements by saying what he is not. These negatives differ from affirmatives by showing that nothing our senses can grasp in this world can be found in God. This emphasises the ineffable mystery of God’s nature and allows us to get close to God by eliminating misconceptions of Him.

Via Negativa is a different way to speak about God altogether. The way of Analogy, Metaphor and Symbolism concerns themselves with devising a manner in which positive statements can be made about God. The Via Negativa holds that, since part of Gods nature is ineffability, it is impossible to make an affirmative statement about God. If we do try to make statements about God there is a danger that we will misrepresent God by assigning false attributes to him. The Via Negativa (or Negative Way) states that the only way to meaningfully represent God with statements by saying what he is not. These negatives differ from affirmatives by showing that nothing our senses can grasp in this world can be found in God. This emphasises the ineffable mystery of God’s nature and allows us to get close to God by eliminating misconceptions of Him.