Gaudiumetspes22 podcast Communio Interviews: Matthew Kuhner joins Larry Chapp to discuss his article on metaphor and analogy in our theological language for God
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Apr 21, 2026 Matthew Kuhner, Catholic theologian and academic dean who studies analogy and metaphor in theological language. He explores the Balthasar vs Thomist debate on metaphorical versus analogical talk about God. Conversations cover incarnation’s effect on naming God, risks of idolatry or over-purging creatureliness, and how Scripture, Aquinas, and Balthasar can correct and inform one another.
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Balthasar Defends Metaphor As Theological Mode
- Balthasar challenges the idea that theology must be purely conceptual, arguing scriptural metaphors and dramatic language legitimately convey divine truth.
- Matthew Kuhner shows this tension arises because scripture and mystics use vivid, embodied speech that complements scholastic clarity.
Aquinas On Naming God Through Remotion
- Thomas locates naming God in knowledge by causality and via remotionis: we purify creaturely perfections back to their divine source.
- Kuhner emphasizes remotion and eminence as the traditional Thomistic route for analogical predication.
Incarnation Changes How We Name God
- Critics worry Balthasar fails to purge creaturely limits before predicating them of God, risking imputing mutability to the divine.
- Kuhner responds that Balthasar does purgative work, but differently, because the incarnation reshapes how we name God.
