Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T06:23:46.434Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - Apophaticism and Perennialism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2024

Christopher C. Knight
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Get access

Summary

The relationship between the perspectives of the perennialist tradition of pluralistic thinking and the kind of apophaticism articulated in the patristic era by Gregory of Nyssa and in the modern era by Vladimir Lossky is examined, and parallels in Islamic thinking are noted. The kind of intuitive apprehension of divine realities associated with the ancient Greek concept of the nous is seen as central to this relationship. The perennialist distinction between esoteric and exoteric aspects of any faith tradition is examined in this context, and Lossky’s sense of the importance of antinomy is seen as significant for rejecting the kind of critique of pluralism that is based on the notion that the doctrinal statements of different faith traditions should be seen as philosophical ‘truth claims’.

Type
Chapter
Information
Exploring Religious Pluralism
From Mystical Theology to the Science-Theology Dialogue
, pp. 16 - 35
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×