Analogy: Strengths, Weaknesses, Scholars
Analogy Weakness: language
How do we know the language Aquinas uses is relevant to God?
C Stephens Evans (counters Blackstone)
There is nothing wrong with accepting God as mysterious as long as the believer understands enough to worship
Analogy Strength: applicable
can apply language to God from a 'spatio-temporal' universe
Analogy Strength: mystery
preserves a degree of mystery about god
Analogy Weakness: limited
Analogy is still using human language which is limited when describing God
Analogy Weakness: truth
Does analogy actually reveal any truth about God?
Swinburne (Analogy)
Sometimes words can be used univocally. e.g. God is good, just as humans are but God is good to a greater degree
William Blackstone
Thomist doctrine is unhelpful because we have to translate the analogies into univocal language before they meaning anything
Analogy Strength: avoids anthropomorphism
avoids anthropomorphism of God which univocal and equivocal language lead to
Analogy Strength: method
enables us to talk about God meaningfully by comparison
Analogy Strength: easy to understand
makes concepts easier to understand by simplifying into tangible ideas
Analogy Strength: religion
shows religious language is not absurd
Analogy Weakness: Analogy of proportion
univocal language could just be applied to a greater degree
Analogy Weakness: reflections of God
what if we are not reflections of God/made in the image of God/created by God?