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Cataphatic vs Apophatic - What's the difference?

cataphatic | apophatic | Antonyms |

Apophatic is a antonym of cataphatic.



As adjectives the difference between cataphatic and apophatic

is that cataphatic is pertaining to the expression of God in terms of what God is, rather than (apophatic) in terms of what God is not while apophatic is pertaining to knowledge of God obtained through negation rather than positive assertions.

cataphatic

English

Alternative forms

* kataphatic

Adjective

(-)
  • (theology) Pertaining to the expression of God in terms of what God is, rather than (apophatic) in terms of what God is not.

    • Derived terms

    * cataphatically

    apophatic

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • 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