Negative Language and Gödel's Incompleteness in Cappadocian Theology

Giulio Maspero

doi:10.4396/06202310

Giulio Maspero

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4396/06202310

Keywords: Apophaticism, Incompleteness, Negative Theology, Cappadocian Theology

Abstract

The article presents the difference between the epistemology of the Church Fathers and Greek metaphysics in terms of the introduction of an infinite gap between the first principle and the world. This breaks the identification between being and the intelligible dimension, making negative theology a necessary path to progress in the knowledge of God. This is presented from the perspective of the thought of the Cappadocian Fathers, particularly in terms of the relationship between eternity and time. The path shows the convergence of Cappadocian epistemology with the incompleteness highlighted by contemporary logic. Indeed, the consistency of an intellectual description can only be invoked when the representation is open, in the sense that it refers to a surplus of reality over the merely logical and conceptual dimension.

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