ON KNOWING AND UNKNOWING GOD: REASON AND MYSTICISM IN THE ARMENIAN THEOLOGIAN GREGORY OF TATEV

Abstract

The dialectic of the cataphatic and the apophatic is vital for honouring the transcendent within the rational endeavour of theology. The medieval Armenian theologian Gregory of Tatev presents a theological approach that is strongly logical and analytical, discussing the mystical only in a few places. For this reason, he has been accused of abandoning the apophatic altogether. However, it can be shown that mystical theology is at the heart of his thinking and his own spiritual practice. After expounding his cataphatic and apophatic theologies this paper shows that the divine hiddenness and incomprehensibility shape Gregory's cataphatic theology in that they underlie its epistemology and hermeneutics. Both are developed from the spiritual experience that God is ultimately ineffable and that 'unknowing' is the highest form of knowing him.