"The Incarnation is rightly understood only when it is seen within the broad context of creation, history, and the new world. Only then does it become clear that the senses belong to faith, that the new seeing does not abolish them, but leads them to their original purpose.If this is the case (as with the antimonies of Calvin), then the more intensely the individual devotes himself to humility, the more isolated and arrogant he will become (Woodrow Wilson).
Iconoclasm rests ultimately on a one-sided apophatic theology, which recognizes only the Wholly Other-ness of the God beyond all images and words, a theology that in the final analysis regards revelation as the inadequate human reflection of what is eternally imperceptible. But if this is the case, faith collapses.
Our current form of sensibility, which can no longer apprehend the transparency of the spirit in the senses, almost inevitably brings it a flight into a purely 'negative' (apophatic) theology. God is beyond all thought, and therefore all propositions about him and every kind of image of God are in equal proportions valid and invalid.
What seems like the highest humility toward God turns into pride, allowing God no word and permitting him no real entry into history."Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy, 123-124
(line breaks added).
Monday, September 07, 2009
How a Form of Religous Humility Can Become Arrogance
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5 comments:
Hello,
Judging by some of your posts, I was wondering if I could enlist your help in a research project I'm doing trying to link French Personalism to the Russian emigration in Paris. I'm not sure exactly how to leave contact info, but I'm signed in with a google account, so if possible please email me.
Thanks,
Erich
you could email me at fpkthree@gmail.com
Fred, I've been thinking about this post/quote for some time. I don't have a copy of The Spirit of the Liturgy so could you contextualize the quote for me - out of or about what is Cardinal Ratzinger speaking here.
I suppose reading about apophatic theology paired with iconoclasm is what is throwing me off, though the apophatic theology Ratzinger speaks of here seems more extreme than how the Orthodox use it.
Thanks
Scott, I see the confusion. My personal context for this quote is that of the analogy of being.
In its own context, the key phrase in the above passage is "Our current form of sensibility" and Ratzinger shortly thereafter also cites with approval Evdokimov and Gregory Palamas.
I'll make a new post with some quotes that keep negative theology in perspective...
or maybe not a new post as yet - I'm not finding the quotes I had in mind...
The more extreme versions of 'negative theology' are found in an atheism which denies the possibility of God revealing himself; certain Protestantisms which downplay the role of revelation in creation and incarnation; and, to be sure, in this age especially, Catholics and Orthodox are not immune from this temptation.
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