Analogies of God | Doctrines of the Catholic Church (Part 6)

Our natural knowledge of God is based purely on analogy.

This doctrine is a continuation of the previous one. Having established that an immediate face-to-face vision of God is impossible while we are still alive, we can infer that our natural knowledge about Him on this earth is based only on indirect analogy and not through direct contact.

Because God is the creator of the universe, everything necessarily bears His mark or imprint, similar to how an artist imprints his style on his paintings. Human beings are at the top of this hierarchy of created things since they are born in the image and likeness of God. Other living creatures and inanimate objects also have this image-bearing capacity, albeit to a lesser degree.

Therefore, when examining visible creation, we can use their characteristics to tell us something about the invisible Creator.

According to Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, there are three ways of knowing God through analogy:

The first is called the Way of Affirmation or Causality. Because God is the source of all created things, it follows that he is also the source of all their positive qualities. Therefore, we can apply to God the same abilities, virtues, merits, and talents that every living creature is capable of. For example, charity is a good quality in human beings, which means God can also act charitably.

The second is called the Way of Negation. Because every created thing is limited in some way due to its finiteness, we can infer that its weaknesses cannot be a reflection of God, who is infinite. For example, a human being who steals is behaving poorly. Therefore, we can negate this bad quality and say that God is incapable of theft.

The third is called the Way of Eminence, which works in tandem with the other two. Because God is eminent or perfect, He must manifest every single positive quality of His creatures and none of their negative attributes in their fullest sense. Drawing from the previous examples above, we can say that God is not only capable of charity but is the absolute perfection of charity above whom no one else can rival. Likewise, we can also say that God is not only incapable of theft but is so far removed from it that even the slightest hint of thievery is incompatible with his nature.

0:00 Opening Prayer
0:45 Definition of the Doctrine
3:39 Proof from Scripture
5:00 Proof from Tradition
9:23 Special Concerns
11:32 Closing Prayer

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Thank you for the following people who made this video possible:

Music: Dreamland by Aakash Gandhi

Special thanks to Ludwig Ott whose textbook Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma serves as the reference for many of these doctrines!