ABSTRACT
David R. Law, in Kierkegaard as Negative Theologian book based on his Ph.D. thesis at Oxford, tackles the question of whether Kierkegaard can be considered a negative theologian. In making his way towards a conclusion, he provides a rather thorough account of what negative theology is. Law describes the nature of negative theology by considering three negative theologians: Clement of Alexandria, Dionysius the Areopagite, and Meister Eckhart. He concludes that three claims characterize negative theology: the transcendence of God, the inadequacy of reason and language to grasp God, and the ascent of the human to a close unity with God. Law concludes that there is an apophatic running through the anthropological considerations of Kierkegaard's writings. Law makes a very strong case that apophatic motifs are present in Kierkegaard's pseudonymous writings. Apophaticisam functions implicitly in his thinking. Law finds close correlations between Kierkegaard and negative theologians in the areas of conceiving God, knowing God, viewing Christology, and employing indirect communication.
