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Religious Language
Author(s) -
Scott Michael
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
philosophy compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.973
H-Index - 25
ISSN - 1747-9991
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-9991.2010.00301.x
Subject(s) - epistemology , reductionism , philosophy , metaphysics , philosophy of religion , perspective (graphical) , sociology , religious philosophy , metaphor , subjectivism , expressivism , cognate , linguistics , western philosophy , computer science , artificial intelligence
This study reviews some of the principal themes in contemporary work on religious language. Unlike other recent surveys, the most pressing issues about religious language are addressed from the perspective of the philosophy of language; different positions taken on these issues by philosophers of religion and theologians are considered. Topics that are covered include: the subject matter of religious discourse, reductionism and subjectivism, expressivism, the nature of religious metaphor, religious fictionalism and truth in religious discourse. The study also looks at the relationship between questions about religious language and cognate areas of philosophy of religion such as epistemology and metaphysics, and potential future directions of research.