Than which fewer wiser things have been said on any discussion board....
EO negative theology would be a lot more convincing if it weren't so concerned about terms and definitions yourselves, and didn't demand that everyone adopt your exact way of saying things.
http://tinyurl.com/ylxm6nv
UPDATE: Link fixed
3 comments:
The link is broken, so I can't see the context of your quote.
But on the face of it, it's baloney. When Orthodox folks discuss these things (especially on the Internet), it is in a Western context in which everybody else (Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed) shares a common vocabulary and a common intellectual framework. It is the Orthodox who are the "foreigners" (even if they are converts). If they always seem to be concerned about terms and definitions, it is because they have to be, because the differences in language and intellectual categories between Christian East and Christian West are real.
And it has nothing to do with apophatic vs. cataphatic theology, because whether you are saying something negatively or saying it positively, you are still saying it using the language and thought-categories that you have been taught.
As I said, I can't tell the context because the link is broken, and in particular I can't tell who said it.
But it couldn't have been the Fearsome Comrade, could it?
"If they always seem to be concerned about terms and definitions, it is because they have to be, because the differences in language and intellectual categories between Christian East and Christian West are real."
I actually agree with the substance of this. However, in my experience, a lot of EOs online simply assert their categories and make little or no attempt to understand "western" theology on its own terms. This is true in the case here, I believe. I fixed the link so you can decide.
"And it has nothing to do with apophatic vs. cataphatic theology, because whether you are saying something negatively or saying it positively, you are still saying it using the language and thought-categories that you have been taught."
True, again. But, I have been told many times that the West is hung up on intellectual categories while the East is apophatic, which simply is not the case. They are just as philosophical--moreso IMO--as the "West" is. In fact, I think Lutherans have the best claim to being apophatic, as we throw up our hands when we encounter paradoxes. That is not true 100% of the time, of course, and there are quite a few EOs with whom we at least seem to have some theological affinity. But ISTM that the EO claims of apophathy are a little overblown.
Also, I am not critiquing EO teaching so much as what I see as posturing by EO apologists.
Post a Comment