APOPHATISM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does apophatism mean? 

• APOPHATISM (noun)
  The noun APOPHATISM has 1 sense:

1. the religious belief that God cannot be known but is completely 'other' and must be described in negative terms (in terms of what God is not)

  Familiarity information: APOPHATISM used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• APOPHATISM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The religious belief that God cannot be known but is completely 'other' and must be described in negative terms (in terms of what God is not)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("apophatism" is a kind of...):

faith; religion; religious belief (a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny)

Antonym:

cataphatism (the religious belief that God has given enough clues to be known to humans positively and affirmatively (e.g., God created Adam 'in his own image'))

doctrine of analogy (the religious belief that between creature and creator no similarity can be found so great but that the dissimilarity is always greater; any analogy between God and humans will always be inadequate)