The architecture of apophasis: exploring options for a cognitive scientific interpretation of the via negativa

Abstract

This article charts possibilities for discerning cognitive mechanisms that mediate apophatic cognition (and its purportedly self-transforming effects) in negative streams of Christian thought and practice. First, it tests the extent to which (1) Schjoedt’s et al. “cognitive depletion” model (Schjoedt et al., 2013) and (2) McNamara’s “decentering” model (McNamara, 2009) can explain, biologically and psychologically, why epistemic and existential loss is often said to precede and attend illumination in the via negativa – or negative way. While McNamara’s theory proves more convincing than Schjoedt’s et al. for shedding light on cognitive underpinnings of the negative way, neither theory is fully satisfactory because neither adequately accounts for the constitutive role of social and emotional dynamics at each step in the Christian apophatic journey. The final section introduces a cognitively informed account of the apophatic path consisting of four moments: Resonance, Rupture, Reappraisal, and Repair. This account is supported largely by a turn to neurocognitive, developmental, and clinical psychological research on relationality and emotion regulation.

Keywords:

• apophaticism
• cognitive science
• emotion
• mysticism
• neuroscience
• psychology
• relationality
• spirituality

Acknowledgements

I thank Wesley Wildman, Patrick McNamara, Michael Spezio, and two blind reviewers for their feedback on earlier drafts. I am grateful as well to Steven J. Sandage, who introduced me to Jeremy Safran's research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author

Notes

1. For the sake of constructive argument, this essay hazards generalizations about apophaticism in Christianity. It should kept in mind, however, that there is tremendous diversity evident in the writings of apophatic thinkers within (and certainly outside of) Western traditions. For an instructive sampling, see Franke (2007). Also, negativity/apophasis in Christian discourse may be divided into several distinct forms. On this topic, see McGinn (2008). It is hoped that the constructive theoretic merits of my generalizations outweigh their occasional inevitable oversimplifications.