The Mystical End of Finitude: Analogia Entis as Catholic Denkform

Sammanfattning: This thesis aims to show that the doctrine of analogia entis, the analogy of being, is a proper form of thought for Catholic theology, because it is based on a theological metaphysics. The thesis includes a very brief historical account of the concept of analogy in philosophical and theological metaphysics, but has for its real starting point the exclamation of Karl Barth that the analogia entis is "the invention of the Antichrist." After exploring Barth's reasons for reacting so strongly to the doctrine, I discuss some of Barth's Catholic interlocutors' attempts to resolve the dispute. Then I attend to the question of form of thought, or Denkform, a term coined by Hans Urs von Balthasar in his study The Theology of Karl Barth: Exposition and Interpretation to express "styles of truth" in Catholic theology. Finally, I consider the original proposal for the analogia entis by Erich Przywara. My conclusion is that the analogia entis exceeds the requirements for openness set by Balthasar for a Catholic form of thought, and that it, as an essentially open metaphysics, testifies to the mystical end of finitude.