It is inevitable that theists "talk about God." This occurs in the sacred books of the faith tradition, creeds, theological debates, sermons, liturgies, private prayer, and informal conversations between believers. But philosophically there is a dilemma to be faced. The only language we have for talking about God is our human language, and how can we use that language while respecting the differences between God and human beings? Talking about God is a fresh examination of one traditional answer to this problem, the concept of analogy.Roger White begins his study with three chapters providing general background on analogy in Ancient philosophy. The first chapter deals with the mathematical roots of the concept of analogy, followed by two chapters on analogy in the works of Aristotle. He then moves into consideration of the use of analogy for language about God, with chapters on Aquinas, Kant, and Barth. The final chapter of the book is an exploration of the question how far the different accounts that have been presented offer a viable account of religious language.Talking about God is written from a primarily analytic (rather than Thomistic) philosophical perspective. For example, White proposes that "the crucial point to appreciate" in order to understand Karl Barth's account of analogy "is that, like Aquinas, he is arguing for a form of what is now called 'semantic externalism,"' a theory introduced
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