Language:
English
Year of publication:
2021
Titel der Quelle:
Journal of Ecumenical Studies
Angaben zur Quelle:
56,3 (2021) 387-411
Keywords:
God Philosophy
;
Negative theology
;
Negative theology Judaism
;
History of doctrines
Abstract:
Religious fundamentalism is a major source of political instability in the world. The literalizing of God and religious texts infuses followers of the three Western monotheistic religions with an impetus to fight to the death any nation or group that they feel opposes their understanding of what God demands of them. From even before the era of the official promulgation of monotheistic doctrine, an alternative reading of the supreme Power in the universe has been available. This alternative reading has been officially canonized in Western religious thought as negative theology. Negative theology states that we can only know what God is not—but not what God is. Since God brings the explanatory quest to a halt, God can only be infinite. It is a contention of this essay that the structure of negative theology duplicates the structure of skeptical argument—and they both issue forth in incoherence. The only mode of relationship to God that is available to us is a mystical one, which means that no person can base their relationship to God on the premise of certainty. Fundamentalism then rests on a vulnerable set of rational arguments, which the essay seeks to explore and expose.
DOI:
10.1353/ecu.2021.0028
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
Permalink
