Analogia non Entis sed Entitatis: The Ontological Consequences of the Doctrine of Analogy

Abstract

Abstract: Much recent theology, influenced by the linguistic turn in postmodernity, has sought to ground a reconnection of God and the world, and thus a rediscovery of the possibilities of theology, in a doctrine of analogy, which, it is claimed, is found in medieval theology. However, a close examination of the doctrine of analogy present in the work of St Thomas Aquinas, his precursors and interpreters, demonstrates that analogy was not being used to do the work it is now called to do, and cannot in fact bear that weight.