apophatic

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Pronunciation

• (British) IPA: /apə(ʊ)ˈfatɪk/

Adjective

apophatic

1. (theology) Pertaining to knowledge of God obtained through negation rather than positive assertions.
   • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin 2010, p. 488:

     For him, the assertions of Palamas ran counter to the apophatic insistence in Pseudo-Dionysius that God was unknowable in his essence.

   • 2009, Karen Armstrong, The Case for God, Vintage 2010, p. 123:

     Augustine had absorbed the underlying spirit of Greek apophatic theology, but the West did not develop a fully fledged spirituality of silence until the ninth century, when the writings of an unknown Greek author were translated into Latin and achieved near-canonical status in Europe.

Antonyms

• cataphatic

Related terms

• apophatism

Translations

• German: apophatisch
• Portuguese: apofático

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