Terminology Tuesday: Predication

Predication (analogical, univocal, equivocal): Application of descriptive terms, or “predicates,” to God. If one assumes (as many do) that human language gets its meaning from its application to finite, created objects, then there is a difficulty as to how such terms can apply to God. Recently, Richard Swinburne and William Alston have argued that some predicates can apply univocally (with the same meaning) both to God and to creatures. Thomas Aquinas held that positive terms can be applied to God—but only analogically. According to such a view, we do not know exactly what we mean when we say God is good, for example, but only that his goodness resembles (though exceeds) the goodness of creatures. Equivocal predication is application of the same term to God and creatures with different meanings.1

1. C.Stephen Evans, Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), p. 96.

Written by

Brian Auten is the founder emeritus of Apologetics315. He is also director of Reasonable Faith Belfast. Brian holds a Masters degree in Christian Apologetics and has interviewed over 150 Christian apologists. His background is in missions, media direction, graphic design, and administration. Brian started Apologetics315 in 2007 to be an apologetics hub to equip Christians to defend the faith.

Type at least 1 character to search
Catch the AP315 Team Online:

The mission of Apologetics 315 is to provide educational resources for the defense of the Christian faith, with the goal of strengthening the faith of believers and engaging the questions and challenges of other worldviews.

Defenders Media provides media solutions to an alliance of evangelistic ministries that defend the Christian worldview. We do this by elevating the quality of our members’ branding to match the excellence of the content being delivered.