Knowing the Unknowable God

Ibn-Sina, Maimonides, Aquinas

David B. Burrell, C.S.C.

“David Burrell’s new book is as succinct as it is weighty, as clear as it is challenging. Knowing the Unknowable God is an exercise in an almost forgotten genre—ecumenical philosophical theology. . . .This study of Ibn-Sina, Maimonides, and Thomas Aquinas on the structure and significance of language about God reminds us that such ecumenical dialogue was immensely productive in the Middle Ages, and the author’s perspective suggests how richly rewarding the renewal of such conversations might be for current philosophy among Jews, Christians, and Muslims.” —Bernard McGinn, Naomi Shenstone Donnelley Professor of Historical Theology and the History of Christianity, University of Chicago Divinity School

“Historians, philosophers, theologians, and those concerned with interreligious dialogue will all find this book important.” —George Lindbeck, Pitkin Professor Emeritus of Historical Theology and Religious Studies, Yale University

“Burrell’s discussion of the logic of attribution is very relevant to contemporary philosophy of God. This brief but profound little book should be of interest to philosophers whose interests extend beyond medieval philosophy.” —_International Philosophical Quarterly_

David B. Burrell, C.S.C., is currently Theodore Hesburgh Professor in Philosophy and Theology at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of Friendship and Ways to Truth and Freedom and Creation in Three Traditions, also published by the University of Notre Dame Press.