Interpreting religious language : a Wittgensteinian view

Abstract

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.