Transcending Definitions: Rethinking Divine Attributes
Critics claim that the concept of God may rely on a set of positive qualities (for example, describing God’s actions), but such a description does not encompass His entire essence. In their view, attempts to attribute specific properties to God often overlook the fact that, by His nature, He transcends any rational definition and cannot be fully expressed through words or concepts.Thus, one source notes: "Divine properties, known to us through Divine actions, are called spiritual or cataphatic properties. It should be borne in mind that spiritual properties, neither individually nor collectively, exhaust the Divine essence." (source: link txt)Another critic, reflecting on the Divine essence, emphasizes an apophatic approach that rejects conventional representations: "God is not a body, for He is infinite, boundless, intangible, invisible; in Him, there is no division, no struggle, no complexity; He permeates everything with Himself and fills everything, without mixing with anything. These and similar apophatic expressions only indicate what God is not, but cannot explain what God is in His essence." (source: link txt)Thus, critics point out that the traditional portrayal of God may omit qualities such as absolute transcendence, infinity, and the inability to be fully comprehended. When using adjectives like "bodiless," "without beginning," "incorruptible," and similar terms, the discussion focuses not on God possessing specific positive qualities, but rather on His essence being defined by the absence of limitation, materiality, and division. This highlights the impossibility of reducing the image of God to a set of conventional characteristics accessible to human reason and experience.