negative theology

American  

noun

1. a theological approach or tradition in which the nature of God is thought to be unknowable and is only understood through negative statements.

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Etymology

Origin of negative theology

First recorded in 1810–15

Example Sentences

This leads Maimonides to a radical negative theology asserting that human knowledge cannot conceive of what God is but only of what God is not.

From Textbooks • Jun. 15, 2022

Maimonides’s negative theology was radical and was challenged, perhaps most notably, by St. Thomas Aquinas.

From Textbooks • Jun. 15, 2022

At a session on negative theology, a speaker said he’d arrived by mistake a day early.

From Scientific American • Dec. 15, 2020

They and other seekers will probably dismiss negative theology as a model for inquiry, and I understand why.

From Scientific American • Dec. 15, 2020

As in Philo so in Maimonides, his negative theology was only a means to a positive.

From A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy by Husik, Isaac