Sculpting God: an exchange (1). (response to John N. Jones, Harvard Theological Review, vol. 89, p. 355, 1996)

In a recent issue of the Harvard Theological Review, John N. Jones argues that one must radically reinterpret the status of negative theology in pseudo-Dionysius. Unlike previous interpretations of pseudo-Dionysius, his article claims that this negative speech about God, which calls into question all positive claims regarding the divine, does not refute its own claims.

Previous readings have tended to treat all negative language synonymously. If, therefore, pseudo-Dionysius negates all negative language, including the negation of negative language, his thought would be paradoxical and self-negating. Jones's crucial observation is that pseudo-Dionysius actually uses …