Analogical Possibilities: How Words Refer to God

Philip A. Rolnick analyzes, clarifies, and evaluates what has long been recognized as an important but intimidating area of theology: analogy. In assessing the work of W. Norris Clarke, S.J., David Burrell, C.S.C., and Eberhard Jüngel, Rolnick offers a synthesis of Catholic and Protestant perspectives on analogy and anthropology. His examination of the philosophical and theological warrants for analogy calls into question the popular assumption that all theological words are metaphorical and offers the hope of a tempered theological confidence in our ability to refer to God.