Negative theology, by my understanding, is not speaking about God in a bad way. Rather, it is about how to not speak about him. We define God by saying what he is not. For example; God is not fickle, God is not hateful of all humans, God is not tempted by sin. I think that this is useful to keep in mind as a balance to the more traditional positive theology which will be a post coming soon.
However, to focus too much on 'how to not speak of God' is to create an idol rather than recognize God. One - perhaps influenced by the likes of Nietzsche - can take it too far and say that we can actually say nothing about God. This could be motivated by ideas such as; we cannot truly know 'God' or that any talk about God is just speculation - or both of these. It could also come from the idea that any human definition of God would put humans above God, rather than below. Even by saying what God is not, we are implying what he is, and therefore defining him.
However, to focus too much on 'how to not speak of God' is to create an idol rather than recognize God. One - perhaps influenced by the likes of Nietzsche - can take it too far and say that we can actually say nothing about God. This could be motivated by ideas such as; we cannot truly know 'God' or that any talk about God is just speculation - or both of these. It could also come from the idea that any human definition of God would put humans above God, rather than below. Even by saying what God is not, we are implying what he is, and therefore defining him.
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