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Wittgenstein and Descriptive Theology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

Richard H. Bell
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of Religion, The College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio

Extract

‘The work of the philosopher consists in assembling reminders for particular purposes.’

Among the many purposes for which Wittgenstein assembled reminders, the deeper understanding of the religious life would have to qualify as one. Though on first reading this would hardly seem obvious, I hope to make this abundantly clear through an examination of his later literature. There are two ways in which he sheds light on religious issues: first, by the personal passion of his own life and the forthright display of intellectual integrity expected of any professional thinker toward any discipline (this I take to be of particular importance for the theologian or religious thinker), and, second, by making his philosophical investigations descriptive. Any analysis of religious issues or the understanding of the religious life should involve the high degree of personal integrity and the rigorously descriptive method which Wittgenstein makes apparent throughout his writing.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1969

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