In this article, I identify and attempt to resolve a tension running through the Christian tradition concerning the eschatological fate of language, a tension between “eschatologies of silence” and “eschatologies of praise.” Drawing on the apophatic tradition, “eschatologies of silence” argue that language cannot persist into beatitude without introducing absence or lack and will pass away into silent union. Meanwhile, “eschatologies of praise” depict the heavenly liturgy as doxology, the maximal profusion of speech. This tension between the persistence and abolition of speech raises a pressing theological problem, exacerbated by the postmodern linguistic turn. For postmodernity highlights language’s constitutive, and thus unsurpassable, role in the human condition, yet problematizes language’s compatibility with eschatological presence due to its susceptibility to endless deferral. I resolve the tension in favor of an “eschatology of praise” by showing that the logic of doxological speech is compatible with union with divine infinity, especially when epektasis is incorporated into eschatology. Against “eschatologies of silence” like those of Paul Griffiths and Denys Turner, I argue that eschatological suppression of language is equivalent to the rejection of creaturely finitude. Language is never abolished but plays a constitutive role in an eschatological encounter without any shadow of lack.

中文翻译：

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超越沉默：走向赞美的末世

在这篇文章中，我确定并试图解决贯穿基督教传统关于语言末世命运的张力，即“沉默的末世”和“赞美的末世”之间的张力。“沉默的末世论”借鉴了冷漠的传统，认为语言不能在不引入缺席或缺乏的情况下持续到幸福中，并且会消失在沉默的结合中。同时，“赞美的末世论”将天上的礼仪描述为颂赞，即最丰富的言语。语言的持久性和废止之间的这种紧张关系引发了一个紧迫的神学问题，后现代语言的转向加剧了这一问题。因为后现代性突出了语言在人类状况中的构成性，因此是不可超越的作用，然而，由于语言对无休止的延迟的敏感性，它对语言与末世存在的兼容性提出了质疑。我通过表明颂赞演讲的逻辑与神圣无限的结合是一致的，尤其是当epektasis被纳入末世论。反对像保罗·格里菲斯和丹尼斯·特纳那样的“沉默的末世论”，我认为对语言的末世学压制等同于对生物有限性的拒绝。语言永远不会被废除，而是在没有任何缺乏阴影的末世相遇中扮演着构成性的角色。