Apophatism

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A conceptual framework that articulates the nature of divinity by highlighting what cannot be affirmed or defined directly
2. This term describes a method in spirituality that seeks to comprehend higher realities by negating explicit qualities or descriptions of God
3. A philosophical approach that seeks to understand the divine through the negation of affirmative statements and the acknowledgment of what cannot be described

Etymology: Apophatism comes from the Greek "apophatikos," built from "apo," meaning "away from," and "phasis," meaning "saying" or "speech," so the literal sense is "saying away" or "speaking off." The adjective "apophatikos" was used in Greek theology to describe a way of speaking about God by denying what God is not, rather than asserting what God is. The noun "apophatism" is a modern English coinage, formed by adding the suffix "-ism" to that adjective, and it names the practice or school of thought itself. The method has deep roots in Christian mystical writing. Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, a Syrian author writing around 500 CE, argued in works like "The Mystical Theology" that God surpasses every name and concept, so each affirmation must be followed by a denial. Later Eastern Orthodox thinkers, such as Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory Palamas, developed the idea further. Because the ordinary meaning of "apo-" is "away," the method itself was understood as speaking away from the concepts that fall short of God.