TY - BOOK AU - Tomasz Stępień AU - Karolina Kochańczyk-Bonińska PY - 2018 CY - Berlin, Germany PB - Peter Lang Verlag SN - 2192-1857 SN - 9783631757376 TI - Unknown God, Known in His Activities T2 - Incomprehensibility of God during the Trinitarian Controversy of the 4th Century DO - 10.3726/b14190 UR - https://www.peterlang.com/document/1068121 N2 - What can man know about God? This question became one of the main problems during the 4th-century Trinitarian controversy, which is the focus of this book. Especially during the second phase of the conflict, the claims of Anomean Eunomius caused an emphatic response of Orthodox writers, mainly Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nyssa. Eunomius formulated two ways of theology to show that we can know both the substance (ousia) and activities (energeiai) of God. The Orthodox Fathers demonstrated that we can know only the external activities of God, while the essence is entirely incomprehensible. Therefore the 4th-century discussion on whether the Father and the Son are of the same substance was the turning point in the development of negative theology and shaping the Christian conception of God. KW - Early Christian negative theology, Cappadocian Fathers, 4th-century Arian controversy, Eunomius, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa LA - English ER -