Eduqas A-Level Religious Studies A120QS
Christianity: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsChristianity
Christianity: Religious Concepts and Religious LifeChristianity
Christianity: Social and Historical Developments in Religious ThoughtChristianity
Christianity: Practices That Shape Religious IdentityChristianity
Islam: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsIslam
Islam: Religious Concepts and Religious LifeIslam
Islam: Social and Historical Developments in Religious ThoughtIslam
Islam: Practices That Shape Religious IdentityIslam
Judaism: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsJudaism
Judaism: Religious Concepts and Religious LifeJudaism
Judaism: Social and Historical Developments in Religious ThoughtJudaism
Judaism: Practices That Shape Religious IdentityJudaism
Buddhism: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsBuddhism
Buddhism: Religious Concepts and Religious LifeBuddhism
Buddhism: Social and Historical Developments in Religious ThoughtBuddhism
Buddhism: Practices That Shape Religious IdentityBuddhism
Hinduism: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsHinduism
Hinduism: Religious Concepts and Religious LifeHinduism
Hinduism: Social and Historical Developments in Religious ThoughtHinduism
Hinduism: Practices That Shape Religious IdentityHinduism
Sikhism: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsSikhism
Sikhism: Religious Concepts and Religious LifeSikhism
Sikhism: Social and Historical Developments in Religious ThoughtSikhism
Sikhism: Practices That Shape Religious IdentitySikhism
Arguments for the Existence of God: Inductive
Arguments for the Existence of God: Deductive
The Problem of Evil and Suffering
Religious Belief as a Product of the Human Mind
Religious Experience
Religious Language
Ethical Thought
Deontological Ethics
Teleological Ethics
Determinism
Religious Language
The inherent problems of religious language
- 3 things to know
- Component 2
Overview
Univocal language, equivocal language and via negativa.
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Why does the God of classical theism create a problem for language?
What is univocal language?
Questions from this subtopic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
Why does the God of classical theism create a problem for language?
Model answer
Human language developed to describe finite, physical and temporal things. God is held to be infinite, incorporeal and timeless, so ordinary words do not obviously fit.
- 2
What is univocal language?
Model answer
Univocal language uses a word in exactly the same sense of two subjects. Calling God good and a person good univocally would make divine goodness the same kind as human goodness.
- 3
What is the danger of univocal language about God?
Model answer
God is reduced to one more being alongside creatures. Anthropomorphism follows, and divine transcendence is lost.
- 4
What is equivocal language?
Model answer
Equivocal language uses the same word in two entirely unrelated senses. Calling God good equivocally would leave the meaning of the word unknown.
- 5
What is the danger of equivocal language about God?
Model answer
Nothing informative would be said about God at all. Worship and doctrine would rest on words with no graspable content.
- 6
What is the via negativa?
Model answer
The via negativa describes God only by saying what God is not. Maimonides and Pseudo-Dionysius are its best known advocates.
Other ways to work this
The same content, four other ways.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Every question in Religious Language, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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