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Symbolic theology covers the entire range of metaphorical images referring to God, first in the Holy Scripture and then in theological discourse. Within Neo-Platonism, these symbols are first and foremost imprints of the divine, that allow us, through their contact, to come into union with the divine in a theurgical act. Denys insists on their dis-semblance, which directs us to the divine through contact and not through a figurative relationship. In the middle ages, John Scottus Eriugena incorporated the symbolic order into discourse under the name negative theology but already he emphasized the necessity to rationally decypher symbols in light of divine intelligence. Denys’ translator, Jean Sarrazin, placed theology at the cross-section between affirmative theology (of divine names) and mystical theology. With the Summa fratris Alexandri, symbolic theology becomes no more than the first degree, inferior to theology of divine names and to mystical union. Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas maintain the mediating character of symbolic theology between affirmation and mystique, whereas Bonaventure follows Alexander of Hales, but all assign limits to theology: the improper metaphor and symbol must resolve their proper concept. Theology as science has triumphed.