Westminster College senior religion and philosophy major John Allison presented at a meeting of the West Virginia Philosophical Society Oct. 22 at Wheeling Jesuit University.

Allison's paper, "(Pseudo) Dionysian: Is Negative Theology Essentially Tragic?," evolved from a term paper written for a class taught by Dr. David Goldberg, Westminster associate professor of philosophy and Allison's adviser for the paper.  It was one of two papers by an undergraduate student accepted for presentation at the conference.

The paper examined the Christian tradition of negative theology that conceptualizes God as mysterious and unknowable and compared that concept with philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's idea that the world is unknowable.  For Nietzsche, not knowing the world as it exists was a tragic thing.  Allison argued that the negative theological form of Christianity is analogously tragic in some sense.  Not knowing who/what God is has tragic consequences for this type of theology.

"It's always rewarding to share the fruit of my research with others in my field of study," Allison said.  "After hours of reading and digging through religious and philosophical work, it's great to have a forum in which I can present my own ideas and get feedback to help develop my scholarship."

Allison is a son of Dale and Kristine Allison of Pittsburgh and a graduate of homeschooling.

Contact Goldberg at (724) 946-7153 or email for additional information.

John Allison