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Apophatic Theology - admin - 11-04-2025
Apophatic theology, or negative theology, is an approach to God that defines the Divine by what it is not, rather than what it is, because God's essence is considered incomprehensible to the finite human mind. This practice, also known as "the way of unknowing," uses negation to describe God and aims to avoid humanly-created idols or limited concepts about the Divine. Key figures associated with this tradition include Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite and the Cappadocian Fathers
Wikipedia:
According to Fagenblat, "negative theology is as old as philosophy itself;" elements of it can be found in Plato's unwritten doctrines, while it is also present in Neo-Platonic, Gnostic and early Christian writers. A tendency to apophatic thought can also be found in Philo of Alexandria.
According to Carabine, "apophasis proper" in Greek thought starts with Neo-Platonism, with its speculations about the nature of the One, culminating in the works of Proclus. Carabine writes that there are two major points in the development of apophatic theology, namely the fusion of the Jewish tradition with Platonic philosophy in the writings of Philo, and the works of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, who infused Christian thought with Neo-Platonic ideas.
The Early Church Fathers were influenced by Philo, and Meredith even states that Philo "is the real founder of the apophatic tradition." Yet, it was with Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite and Maximus the Confessor, whose writings shaped both Hesychasm, the contemplative tradition of the Eastern Orthodox Churches, and the mystical traditions of western Europe, that apophatic theology became a central element of Christian theology and contemplative practice.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophatic_theology