Translation of the introduction and the first three chapters of the book: Mystical Languages of Unsaying (Michael Sells)

Mystical languages of unsaying by Michael Sells discovers in the field of comparative studies for a interdisciplinary reader and studys the  mystical language of apaphasis in key texts which are the most apophatic texts from five knonwn personalities of three schools of Greece, Christianity and Islam. Personalities regarded in this book include Plotinus, John the Scot Eriugena, Ibn Arabi and Meister Eckhart and Marguerite Porete and the present translation includes the first three ones. The writer tried to define the term apophasis with the comparison of it with other discourses including cataphasis and negative theology.  According to Sells, apophasis is a discourse in which the meaning is achieved through a continuing saying and unsaying. He distinguished between apophotic discourse in which apophasis in only clamed and apophatic theory in which apophasis is performed. The writer shows the mentioned writers’ use of such a discourse through the chapters of the book. In his introduction on the book the translator introduced the writer and his work and indicated to the characteristics and privileges of the book. He also introduced the field of comparative studies and mentioned its advantages, methods and the matters of comparison and by doing this showed the states of the book in the structure of comparative studies. In addition, the translator indicated to the method and process of the translation and tried to reach to the exact meaning of the word apophasis and suggest a true equivalence for the word.