Executive Briefing: Negative Theology
Apophatic theology (*via negativa*) asserts that the Divine Essence fundamentally exceeds all human language, conceptuality, and cognitive categorization. God is best known through holy silence and unknowing.
1. The Mystical Theology of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite
Writing in the late 5th century, the anonymous author guided the contemplative beyond Kataphatic affirmations (God is Good, Wise, Light) into the “brilliant darkness” where intellectual concepts are stripped away in ecstatic union.
2. References
- Pseudo-Dionysius. (c. 500). The Mystical Theology and The Divine Names.
- Lossky, V. (1944). The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church. St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press.