This article examines Derrida and Marion's debate about the relationship between deconstruction and negative theology. It argues that the debate partially hinges upon their conflicting interpretations of what Derrida calls a 'paradoxical writing of the word without' by Pseudo-Dionysius. It attempts to mediate between Derrida and Marion by putting their debate in the context of Derrida's readings of the term 'without' in Blanchot and Angelus Silesius. The article concludes that their debate is not capable of resolution because the 'without' revolves around an aporia which defines the relationship between Derrida and Marion and deconstruction and negative theology.