Passion for Nothing: Explorations in Negative Theology

‘Only finitely is it true that something is better than nothing,’ wrote Søren Kierkegaard. ‘Where the infinite is concerned, the opposite holds–that nothing is better than something.’ Kierkegaard argued that God, who is pure subjectivity, cannot be an object. Human existence is therefore a kind of passion, meaning both suffering and joy, in the endless quest for the endlessly elusive divine. So argues Peter Kline in his book on Kierkegaard’s apophatic theology (seeking God through negation – what God is not), distinguished from cataphatic traditions which make positive assertions about what God is.

Please join us for an evening of spirited discussion with Peter Kline, Vrasidas Karalis and Jonathan McKeown about how such theologies of uncertainty help in our reckoning and wrestling with the world.

Vrasidas Karalis is Sir Nicholas Laurantos Chair of Modern Greek and Byzantine Studies at the University of Sydney and on faculty at the Saint Andrew’s Theological College of the Holy Archdiocese of Australia. He is Archon of the Great Church of Christ, member of the Order of Christ the Saviour, and Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities. He has published widely, including on Greek cinema, moral philosophy, and Greek culture, as well as translations of Patrick White’s Voss and The Vivisector. His most recent book is On Patrick White’s Dilemmas: A Personal Essay (Brandl & Schlesinger, 2025).

Peter Kline is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at St Francis College, University of Divinity, where he teaches on mysticism, ecotheology, disability theology, and the Trinity and has supervised research on feminist theology, trauma, and the arts. He has written for Anglican Focus and appeared on various programmes including ABC’s Soul Search and On the Way, a podcast hosted by St John’s Cathedral, Brisbane. Peter’s new book project is entitled Infinite Seduction: Religion and the Sexual Unconscious, using Jean Laplanche’s “general theory of seduction” as a framework to explore sexuality, alterity, and trauma in the construction and deconstruction of theological meaning. His first book was Passion for Nothing: Kierkegaard’s Apophatic Theology (Fortress Press, 2017).

Jonathan McKeown currently makes a living as a plumber, although he initially trained and worked as a youth minister. He has studied psychology, philosophy and contemporary studies in religion at The Brisbane College of Theology and The University of Queensland. He has trained and been accredited as a spiritual director. He is a poet who has been published in numerous journals. Genesis, his book of haibun poetry, was published by Red Moon Press in 2022 and he is currently working on a second book of poetry experimenting with traditional forms including the sonnet. Married, with three adult children, Jono has lived in the Inner West for the last 30 years. He is passionate about small group work and has led men’s support groups, philosophical discussion groups, and other reading and discussion groups.

Image: Detail from ‘Cloud of Unknowing,’ by Peter Kline (2017).