Philosophy of religious language

Academic year: 2010-2011 Course code module FLWF005100 Semester: 1st semester Credits: 3 Study load (hours) 84 Theory (hours): 30,00 Practice/Exercises(hours): Other (hours): Part-time program: 1/2 Instructor(s) Walter Van Herck Language of instruction: Dutch Semester exam information: exam in the 1st semester Contract restriction information: 1. Prerequisites *Algemene competenties - be knowledgeable about the history and key concepts of western philosophy  (i.e. have completed the basic philosophical training of the first bachelor year) - passive knowledge of French, English and German *Sequentiality None 2. Objectives (expected learning outcomes) gain knowledge of, and insight into, the different questionings of the phenomenon of religious language 3. Course content Part I is dedictated to different sorts of religious language and the impact of this variability on the question concering the specificity of religious language. Part  II offers the questions asked in the philosophical tradition of the west about religious language. The discussion will not be reduced to the debates in the fifties of the previous century about the meaningfulness of religious language  ("theology and falsification"). Also questions concerning the relation between religious language and religious experience, religious knowledge, ritual, concerning the accessabilitiy of religious language for non-believers, concerning its literal or figurative character, etcetera. In Part III some crucial texts will be read and discussed. Tentative table of contents I. Types of religious language and the specificity of religious language 1 God speaks - sacred language o sacred texts, the bible o patristic and scholastic ways of treating scripture (cf de Lubac, Exégèse médiévale: les quatre sens de l'écriture) o philosophical context of the rise of modern exegesis (Spinoza, Reimarus) o Entmythologisierung (Bultmann) o fundamentalism and literalism 2 Speaking about God - the language of philosophical theology o names for God o God-talk o derivative nature of God-talk 3 Talking to God - devotional speech o specificity of prayer o devotion and a primary religious language II. Philosophical questions concerning religious language 1 How is talk about God possible? o negative theology o analogy 2 What is religious language about? o Ayer and verificationism o The University discussion (Flew, Hare, Mitchell) o emotivism (Santayana, Braithwaite) o Ramsey 3 Is religious language an esoteric language game? o D.Z. Phillips 4 How litteral or figurative is religious language? o Whittaker 5 Impliceert figuurlijke religieuze taal een relativisme? 6 What is the role of language in the constitution of religious experience ? o van der Lans, Vergote, Sundén 7 Priority of language over ritual or the other way round? o Barrington Bates o C. Pickstock o mythe and or  ritual 4. Teaching method Direct contact: Lectures Tutorials 5. Assessment method Exam: Oral, with written preparation Open questions 6. Compulsory reading – study material A reader with texts selected by the lecturer will be made available via Blackboard. 7. Recommended reading - study material Alston, W., Divine nature and human language, Ithaca, 1989 Barbour, I.G., Myths, Models and Paradigms, New York: Harper & Row, 1974 Barrington Bates, J., 'The sin of asyndeton : fatal flaws in Enriching our Worship', in The Heythrop Journal, Vol. 41 (2000), p. 413-435 Braithwaite, R.B., An empiricist's view of the nature of religious belief, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1955 Brümmer, V., Over een persoonlijke God gesproken, Kampen : Kok, 1988 Crombie, I.M., The possibility of theological statements, in B. Mitchell (ed.), Faith and Logic, London: Allen & Unwin, 1957 Dalferth, I., Sprachlogik des Glaubens. Texte analytischer Religionsphilosophie und Theologie zur religiösen Sprache, 1974 Dalferth, I., Religiöse Rede von Gott, München : Kaiser, 1981 de Pater, W., Theologische Sprachlogik, München : Kösel, 1971 de Pater, W., Analogy, disclosures and narrative theology, Leuven : Acco, 1988 de Pater, W., Reden von Gott : Reflektionen zur analytischen Philosophie der religiösen Sprache, Bonn : Linguistica Biblica, 1988 de Pater, W., 'Sprachphilosophie in der Theologie', in Dascal, M., e.a. (eds.), Sprachphilosophie. Ein internationales Handbuch zeitgenössischer Forschung, Berlin : W. de Gruyter, 1996, p. 1489-1505 Evans, Donald, Faith, authenticity and morality, University of Toronto press, 1980 Flew, A., 'Theology and Falsification', in Flew, A. & MacIntyre, A. (eds.), New Essays in Philosophical Theology, London, 1955 Harris, J.F., 'The causal theory of reference and religious language', in: IJPR, Vol. 29 (1991), 75-86 Helm, P. (ed.), Referring to God. Jewish and Christian Philosophical and Theological Perspectives, Richmond : Curzon Press, 2000 Kaempfert, Manfred (Hg.), Probleme der religiösen Sprache, Darmstadt : Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1983 (RG 2005 A 11) McFague, S., Metaphorical Theology, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1982 Mitchell, B. (ed.), The philosophy of religion, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971 Phillips, D.Z., Wittgenstein and religion, 1993 Ramsey, I.T., Religious Language, London, 1973 Ross, J.F., Portraying analogy, Cambridge UP, 1981 Santayana, G., Reason in religion, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1905 Santoni, R. (ed.), Religious language and the Problem of Religious Knowledge, London : Indiana University Press, 1968 Soskice, J.M., Metaphor and religious language, Oxford, 1987 Stiver, D., The philosophy of religious language : sign, symbol and story, Cambridge, Mass. : Blackwell, 1996 Van Herck, W., Religie en metafoor, Leuven : Peeters, 1999 Van Herck, W., 'Het gelovige spreken over een persoonlijke God', in Collationes, Vol. 26 (1996), nr. 2, p. 141-148 Warner, M., 'Philosophy, language and the reform of public worship', in Phillips Griffiths (ed.), Philosophy and practice, Cambridge UP, 1985, p. 149-171 Winch, P., 'Meaning and religious language', in A. Loades & L.D. Rue (eds.), Contemporary Classics in Philosophy of Religion, Lasalle : Open Court, 1991 Wisdom, J., 'Gods', in Idem, Philosophy and Psychoanalysis, Blackwell, 1953 Whittaker, J.H., 'Literal and figurative language of God', in : Religious Studies, Vol. 17 (1981), p. 39-54 8. 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