New Apophaticism

Susannah Ticciati is Senior Lecturer in Systematic Theology at King’s College London.

"This is a brilliantly original study of why we can’t talk about God and why we can’t help trying and why our trying is bound up with our growth in holiness. It combines deep knowledge of early and mediaeval theology with a thorough familiarity with contemporary philosophy, as well as a sharp literary sensibility – which is a most unusual and refreshing mixture. It deserves a very wide readership." – Rowan Williams, Master of Magdalene College, University of Cambridge"In this ground-breaking study, Dr Ticciati, using tools taken from a wide range of modern philosophers, rigorously examines some of Augustine's writings on predestination in pursuit of the thesis that God-language does not point away from itself to God as something separate but, insofar as it contributes to the redemptive transformation of human beings, thereby rendering them better signs of God, itself contributes indirectly to the signification of God." – Nicholas Lash, Norris-Hulse Professor Emeritus of Divinity, University of Cambridge"A paradigmatic example of inquiry in philosophical theology, rooted in scripture (...), this bold exploration of apophatic [‘negative’] discourse on God helps us to recognize how any attempt to articulate a non-competitive relation between creator and creature can only succeed when it assists both speakers and hearers themselves to become signs of that God’s action at work in us." – David Burrell, Hesburgh Professor Emeritus, University of Notre Dame

• Acknowledgments ... viiAbbreviations ... ixNote on Translations and Conventions ... xiKey Texts from De dono perseuerantiae ... xiiiIntroduction ... 11 Contemporary Apophaticism ... 23PART ONETRANSFORMATION2 Augustine’s Doctrine of Predestination: The Contours ... 553 Augustine’s Doctrine of Predestination: A Performative Analysis ... 734 Augustine’s Doctrine of Predestination: An Indexical Analysis ... 105PART TWOSIGNIFICATION5 Creatures as Signs of God ... 1376 The Transformation of Semiosis ... 175PART THREETRANSFORMING SIGNS7 Augustine’s Doctrine of Predestination: A Semiotic Analysis ... 1998 God-Language ... 217Bibliography ... 247Index ... 253