Interpreting Religious Language
A Wittgensteinian View
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20249784 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Mario Brandhorst (0000-0002-9586-5941, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue | 11 |
| Pages | 1378 |
| Publication date | 2025-10-29 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Religions (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/rel16111378 |
| OpenAlex | W4415672997 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 13 |
This paper outlines a view of religious language that revolves around the notion of informed interpretation. The view can be summed up by saying that there is no fact of the matter independently of context and informed interpretation as to whether some religious statement or expression has cognitive content, or what that content may be. Where informed interpretation of religious language is impossible, we can give no answer to the question of what the content of a given statement or expression is. Equally, there can be no answer to the question of what that statement or expression presupposes or implies. If this is correct, then the idea that there can be a general and abstract philosophical analysis or theory of religious language should be called into question
Pragmatics · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics · Study and Philosophy of Religion · Wittgensteinian philosophy and applications
Wittgenstein: Lectures, Cambridge 1930–1933
I.—mathematical Proof
Cognitivism about religious belief in later Wittgenstein
The Golden Bough
For If There Is No Resurrection of the Dead, Then Christ Has Not Been Raised Either
Wittgenstein on the Grammar of Unshakeable Religious Beliefs
Inquiries into Truth and Interpretation
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |