Wittgenstein for Theologians

It would be an unusual fish indeed that contemplated the nature of the very water in which it lives. Ironically, human beings do not fare much better than fish: we tend not to notice the way language permeates all our life and thought. Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) was one of a handful of recent thinkers who has shown just how important the nature of language is for the doing of theology. Not only do the workings of language outrank the authority of math and science, the very regularities by which we are able to communicate are inextricably tied to the bodily nature of our existence. (Of course, the bodily dimension of human language is why God's plan for reestablishing open communication with us required the incarnation of Jesus-the-Word rather than simply emailing to us a philosophical treatise.) Moreover, this bodily nature is irreducibly social by nature, and it is in the social "dance" with others that the world is brought into focus for a given individual. This present volume unpacks four of Wittgenstein's central concepts--language-games, grammar, form of life, and aspect-seeing--in order to explore their importance for doing the work of theology.