Aither is a double-blind peer review, Open Access online academic journal. It is indexed at ERIH+ and Scopus. It is published by the Faculty of Arts of the Palacký University in Olomouc in cooperation with the Philosophical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. It comes out twice a year. Every second issue is international and contains foreign-language articles (mainly in English, but also in German and French). The journal is registered under the number ISSN 1803-7860.

Aither 23/2020 (International issue no. 7):24-38 | DOI: 10.5507/aither.2020.003

Charles de Bovelles on God, Nihil and Negative Theology

Donald F. Duclow
Gwynedd Mercy University

In Liber de nihilo Charles de Bovelles probes the meanings of 'nihil / nothing' in several registers: semantic, logical, metaphysical/theological, and symbolic. Yet a consistent concern is the relation of 'nihil' to God and creation, since God reportedly creates "ex nihilo." This essay focuses on the work's concluding chapters, where Bovelles analyzes the dialectic of affirmation and negation in naming God. Here 'nihil' ends a descending series of affirmative divine names, "truly proclaiming and mysteriously announcing that nothing is God (nihil esse deus)." 'Nihil' then becomes the first term denied of God in an ascending series of negations, which culminates in denying all divine names and a "learned ignorance" that signals a turn to mystical theology. The essay considers Bovelles's mathematics and logic, and compares his analysis with its source, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite's Mystical Theology, and its interpretation by Nicholas of Cusa.

Published: March 30, 2020  Show citation

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Duclow, D.F. (2020). Charles de Bovelles on God, Nihil and Negative Theology. Aither, 12(23), 24-38. doi: 10.5507/aither.2020.003
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