The exclusive context of religious belief for an understanding of religious language

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  • Created by: gemshort
  • Created on: 31-05-18 18:00

To claim a belief like 'God loves me' is to use language that, without context, may appear confusing or meaningless

  • Phrases such as 'Vishnu is the Preserver' reflect a particular religious tradition and a deeply held set of beliefs about the character of a divine being
  • Such beliefs are often viewed as not being discoverable outside of those religious traditions, as there is no objectively agreed reality that is universally accepted both inside and outside of religious belief

Is religious language an entirely exclusive form of communication, inaccessible to those outside of the tradition?

Wittgenstein, in his theory of Language Games, argued that the way in which language was to be understood was considering how it was used - 'ask not for its meaning but for its use'

  • He stated that each area of human activity could be recognised by the specialised use of language it had - he referred to these as 'language games' and suggested that unless you understood the 'rules of the game', then you

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