Wittgenstein and Religious Language

Abstract

“If one were to follow a Wittgensteinian approach in theology, the very least that could be said is that one of the primary functions of theology would be the analysis of its own language. Broadly speaking, theology is the study of God and his relationship to men. Such a study of necessity involves the use of language in its development and communication. Thus the analysis of theological language can reveal a great deal about the nature of the experiences that give rise to theology. Perhaps it would be helpful to distinguish between the philosophical and dogmatic theologian at this point. The latter could be said to ‘do theology’ while the former's function is to analyze what sort of thing one is doing when one does theology.”