Religious Language: 20th century perspectives

• What is an analytic statement?


  A statement of definition
• How does the truth of an analytic statement depend on its words?

  It does not need experience to support it
• What is a synthetic statement?


  A statement that adds to our knowledge
• What role does experience play in synthetic statements?

  Experience can support their truth
• What is the main question regarding religious statements in the context of analytic and synthetic statements?

  Whether they can be supported by empirical experience
• What are cognitive uses of language?


  Claims that can be shown true or false
• What are non-cognitive uses of language intended for?


  To express emotions or make commitments
• What is the main question regarding religious statements in cognitive and non-cognitive terms?

  Whether they can be understood in either way
• What movement began in the early twentieth century regarding logical positivism?


  The Vienna Circle
• What did the Vienna Circle argue about meaningful statements?

  Only verifiable statements are meaningful
• How did logical positivists challenge religious believers?


  By claiming religious language is meaningless
• Who led the challenge against religious language in logical positivism?

  A.J. Ayer
• What is the verification principle?


  A proposition is meaningful if analytic or testable
• Why is religious language dismissed as meaningless by logical positivists?

  It cannot be tested empirically
• What is a key criticism of the verification principle?

  It cannot be verified for meaning
• What ethical language does the verification principle classify as meaningless?

  Non-religious ethical statements
• Who was Ludwig Wittgenstein?


  An Austrian-British philosopher
• What did Wittgenstein aim to explore regarding language?


  The function and limits of language
• How did Wittgenstein view the analogy of language?


  As a kind of game
• What is a 'form of life' in Wittgenstein's philosophy?


  The context in which language is used
• How does language gain meaning according to Wittgenstein?


  Through participation in a shared language game
• What does Wittgenstein suggest about propositions in language games?

  They can be meaningful to some but not others
• How can religious language be meaningful according to Wittgenstein?

  To those within the language game of religion
• What was the title of Antony Flew's paper presented in 1950?


  Theology and Falsification
• What was Flew's aim in his paper?


  To explore the meaning of religious language
• What parable did Flew use to illustrate his argument?


  A parable about a gardener
• What was the main point of the parable Flew used?

  The gardener cannot be detected by senses
• What do non-cognitive approaches to religious texts suggest?


  To interpret them as tools for learning
• Who suggested demythologising the Bible?


  Rudolf Bultmann
• What does demythologising the Bible mean?

  Looking past magical stories for personal decisions
• What did books like Honest to God suggest?


  Ideas like Jesus as God incarnate need not be factual
• What has been more popular among Christians, cognitive or non-cognitive approaches?

  Cognitive approaches
• What are the key terms related to religious language?

  • Empirical: able to be experienced by the five senses
  • Cognitive: having a factual quality available to knowledge
  • Non-cognitive: not having a factual quality; words as tools
  • Logical positivism: assertions must be empirically testable
  • Verification: providing evidence to determine truth
  • Falsification: providing evidence to determine falsehood