Understanding and Misunderstanding 'Negative Theology'

by Rowan Williams

Rowan Williams distinguishes four modes of "negative theology" - what we do not and cannot know about God. He argues that such theology is best approached within the context of the worshipping Church and that it offers some intriguing pointers towards a better understanding of artistic endeavor. "The familiar binary of ‘affirmative’ and ‘negative’ theology is, of course, part of the problem. In the terms in which it is often expressed, it is very much a modern Gregory Nazianzen, Augustine, Dionysius, Aquinas, even Nicolas of Cusa did not think of themselves as opting for one kind of individual discourse rather than another ― a minimalist or reticent doctrinal vocabulary, say, rather than a set of robust truth-claims. No; for them what had to be said about the role of negation in theology had to do with an understanding of theology as such. It is still not uncommon to find comments in textbook accounts ― or even in more scholarly treatments ― that approach the apophatic element in theology as something implying a kind of admission that truthful speech about God is unattainable or that all specific doctrinal formulations are provisional (in the sense of being indefinitely revisable). And in reaction, theologians will insist on the way revelation authorises confidence in our utterances about God ― a confidence that is always properly chastened by the recognition that without the divine initiative we should be able to say nothing, but also emboldened by that initiative to acts of clear theological ‘I believed and therefore will I speak,’ as the Psalmist said (Ps. 116:10; II Cor 4:13)." From the introduction

Genres: Theology

48 pages, Hardcover

Published May 25, 2021

About the author

Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth, is an Anglican bishop, poet, and theologian. He was Archbishop of Canterbury from December 2002-2012, and is now Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge and Chancellor of the University of South Wales.