the meaning of "lack thereof"

[kjc0123]

What is the meaning of "lack thereof" in the following sentences?

 

"Here's the million-dollar question," Teabing said, still chuckling. "Was your position on the Priory favorable or unfavorable?"
Langdon could hear Teabing's true meaning loud and clear. Many historians questioned why the Priory was still keeping the Sangreal documents hidden. Some felt the information should have been shared with the world long ago. "I took no position on the Priory's actions."
"You mean lack thereof."
Langdon shrugged. Teabing was apparently on the side of making the documents public. "I simply provided history on the brotherhood and described them as a modern goddess worship society, keepers of the Grail, and guardians of ancient documents."

[Quizmonster]

'Thereof' means 'of that thing'. If someone asks you if you have plenty of money, you might reply: "No; in fact I'm suffering from a lack thereof." That means you are short of money...or money is the thing that you lack.
In the case you give, there was a reference to the Priory's actions. This gets the reply: "You mean lack thereof." In this case, therefore, what is missing is any 'action'...that is, the Priory has done nothing.

[jno]

just to add to QM's answer - this is slightly unusual English; the sort of thing you find in formal legal documents, or from people who are trying to be funny by sounding like a legal document. If someone asked 'Have you ever been to Seoul?', you could answer 'I'm just going thereto,' but people would think you were being silly.

[Peter Pedant]

yeah kjc, jno's got it. In 2005 we all say "to it" or "of it" whereas in the nineteenth century there were words for this..... thereto and thereof. [and a few others]

This sounds really weird to modern English ears as everyone thinks "thereto" should be "to there" and if you substitute that in the sentence, it doesnt make sense.

Dutch and English are very close, splitting about 1,500 yrs ago, and when I learnt Dutch, there were equivalents however the one word equivalent was compulsory, thereto (etc) and I thought, ah this is where these words come from....[dont bother to learn Dutch]