Outside Reading #3: Understanding Transcendence

    This semester has given me the opportunity to study many of the most relevant mystics throughout Christian history.  Gregory of Nyssa's "Divine Darkness" is a very interesting reading that I came across this semester and has led me to thinking about God in a unique way.  Gregory makes some interesting claims about the transcendent nature of God and ultimately comes to the conclusion that both apophatic and cataphatic descriptions of God ultimately come up short and that people should refrain from talk of and about God through silence.  This concept is something foreign to me in my faith as I feel as if I frequently am trying to put words to the experiences of God that I have or feel.  I think logical people try to put words to experiences but I am starting to think I am wrong and that Gregory makes a compelling argument.  I posit that it's very possible that our words are insufficient and the only way to truly describe God is to not try to.

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