Paradox

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PARADOX

A statement that seems at first to defy ordinary understanding, even to the point of self-contradiction, but that may, on closer examination, prove to be well founded. The term has been applied to certain religious teachings, e.g., God at one time took on the identity of a particular man, and to antithetical sayings found in Scripture, such as St. Paul's description of the ministers of God, "As sorrowful yet always rejoicing; as poor yet enriching many; as having nothing yet possessing all things" (2 Cor 6.10). For paradoxical constructions arising in sciences such as metaphysics, logic, and mathematics, see antinomy.

[h. a. nielsen]

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