What a God is Not – The Early History of Negative Theology (EABS)

Call For Papers: The question “What is a god?” has been treated extensively in literature. In this session, we want to approach that question from a different angle. When people start to answer this question in a negative way, namely by negating positive statements about gods or by questioning the human ability to understand the divine at all, this demonstrates a more sophisticated approach to this question. In treating traditions from various places within one session and bringing experts from various field together, we hope to gain new insights in the emergence, interconnectedness and influence of these traditions. Negative theology is usually thought to have started with Plato. This session aims at investigating the history of negative theology in the Eastern Mediterranean and Mesopotamia before Plato and thereby investigating negative theology before Plato. We use a quite broad definition of negative theology, namely as describing god by negating positive statements (has no human form, does not walk around, is not born by a mother, …). This session should provide a common ground for a broad comparative approach and we especially encourage researchers with a background in Early Greek Religion and Philosophy, Egyptology, Hittitology, Assyriology and Old Testament Studies to bring relevant texts to our attention and to discuss them in this session.

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