Apophatic Theology

November 11, 2009

[ap-uh-fat’-ik thee-aw’-luh-jee]

(Greek apo-, “other than” + Greek phanai, “speak” = apophasis, “to say no”)

Theological methodology which starts with the ineffability of God, believing that God’s infinite nature cannot be contained by finite men through finite language. The best way to describe God, therefore, is through way of negation (via negativa). In Christianity, apophatic theology is often associated with Eastern Orthodoxy and is foundational to much of the conversation of the so-called emerging church in Protestantism.

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