The Language of Faith
Aquinas while writing in a time before religious language
ever came into question none the less was aware that religious language was not
quite the same as normal language. Aquinas knew that God was not a person, and
so therefore couldn’t be communicated about in the same way that an object
which is inside the universe can be communicated about. After all God is an
infinite being who is also transcendent and necessary human language is used to
describe things which are contingent and is something that we experience
through sight, sound, touch, taste and smell and give in turn a sound which
corresponds to its nature. Linking back to Ferdinand de Saussure’s Semiotics we would say that something we
experience with give a sign e.g. A device
I experience which disperses ink in links a give the sign ‘pen’. Pen is made up
of the signifier ‘P’ ‘E’ ‘N’ which in turns refers to the concept that the
thing corresponds to which is as stated earlier something which disperses link
in lines.
Bit off topic but anyway
thus if we say ‘God is heaven’ it is grammatically similar to, but logically
different from saying ‘Moses is on the Mountain’. If it were not then we would
be accused of anthropomorphising God. It is also a form of literalism which is
a mistake when things are taken literally instead of metaphorically for example
creationists or biblical literalists.
Religious Use of Analogy
Aquinas proposed that to
avoid committing logical error we use analogy. An analogy is a literary device
by which one thing is compared to another. Aquinas held that this was possible
because we are in some way related to God (i.e. made in his image and his
likeness ) yet we must be aware that language about God is bound to be as
limited and inadequate as our limited understanding of God’s nature (epistemic
distance ).
For Aquinas there were two
kinds of Analogy
1)
Analogy of Attribution
2)
Analogy of Proportion
When we say God is wise or God is love we are using the
analogy of attribution. In other words we are giving God qualities that are
highly esteemed by human beings
An analogy of proportion is when we realise that God is proportionately
greater than human qualities for example God Is omnipotent or God is omnibenevolent.
To sum up
Aquinas concluded that there were three ways in which God is
talked about.
1) Equivocal (WRONG) this is to speak of God in a different
scene from how we speak if earthly things. This is wrong as we don’t know about
none earthly things it is beyond our experience (link to Hume)
2) Univocal (WRONG) this is to speak of God is the same
sense as we speak of earthly things – God is limited
3) Analogical (RIGHT) this is to speak of God cautiously by
comparison with earthly things- There are two types Attribution and Proportion.
Ian Ramsy preferred to talk in terms of models and
qualifiers. To say that God is wise is to employ model ‘wisdom’ from everyday
experience. To say that God is ‘infinitely’ wise is to use the qualifier
‘infinitely’ to describe the uniqueness of God. According to Ramsey this ‘lights
up’ the meaning of God and leads to a ‘religious disclosure’ which in turn
leads to a religious commitment.
Ramsy wanted above all to show that religious language is
above all not descriptive but more evocative, meaning that its purpose is not
to arrive at an accurate description but evocative meaning. Religious languages
purpose is not to arrive at an accurate description of God, but to instead to
move the believer to make a religious response to a being who is ultimately
beyond words and whose significance is ultimately beyond the grasp of human
understanding.
(And yes I will be linking Ramsy to religious art just as soon as I can dig myself out of the biology paper hole I am currently drowning in )
Location: Home
Music: The Front Bottoms- The Front Bottoms
Start: ???
Finish: Too late
