Cataphatic theology or
kataphatic theology is
theology that uses "positive" terminology to describe or refer to
the divine – specifically,
God – i.e. terminology that describes or refers to what the divine is believed to be, in contrast to the "negative" terminology used in
apophatic theology to indicate what it is believed the divine is not. "Cataphatic" is a
portmanteau of the two
Greek verbs
cata ("to descend") and
femi ("to speak"), making a rough translation of its meaning to be "to bring God down in such a way so as to [be able to] speak of [Him]".