Wittgenstein and Natural Religion

by Gordon Graham

Overview

Gordon Graham presents a radically innovative study of Wittgenstein's philosophy, in relation to the age-old impulse to connect ordinary human life with the transcendent reality of God. He offers an account of its relevance to the study of religion that is completely different to the standard version of 'Wittgensteinian philosophy of religion' expounded by both its adherents and critics. Graham goes on to revitalize the philosophy of 'true religion', an alternative, though not a rival, to the lively philosophical theology of Plantinga and Swinburne that currently dominates the subject. This alternative style of philosophy of religion has equally deep historical roots in the philosophical works of Spinoza, Hume, Schleiermacher, and Mill. At the same time, it is more easily connected to the psychological, sociological, and anthropological studies of William James, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, Mircea Eliade, and Mary Douglas. Graham uses Wittgenstein's conception of philosophy to argue in favour of the idea that 'true religion' is to be understood as human participation in divine life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191056093
Publisher:	OUP Oxford
Publication date:	09/18/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	859 KB

About the Author

Gordon Graham is Henry Luce III Professor of Philosophy and the Arts at Princeton Theological Seminary. He previously taught philosophy at the University of St Andrews and from 1995-2005 was Regius Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen. He has published sixteen books as well as many articles and reviews, and is founding editor of the Journal of Scottish Philosophy. He has broadcast regularly with the BBC, and is as an Anglican priest has served as an associate at several Episcopal churches in Scotland and the United States

Table of Contents

Introduction1. Natural Theology and Natural Religion2. Understanding Wittgenstein3. Language Games, Forms of Life and Grammar4. World-pictures and Groundless Belief5. Philosophy as a Religious Point of View6. Philosophy as 'Therapy'7. Wittgenstein, James and Frazer8. The Sacramental Universe9. The Sacred and the SupernaturalBIBLIOGRAPHY

Editorial Reviews

"The second half of the book turns fully to an examination of religion, and his discussion here is excellent... there is a great deal to commend Graham's book. He provides a compelling picture of natural religion that is well worth following." —Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews Online

"This is a challenging and rewarding book for those interested in the history of the philosophy of religion, contemporary debates in philosophy of religion, and Wittgenstein." — Journal of the History of Philosophy

"Graham's effort to uphold Christianity's distinctive intelligibility and point is passionate, deeply informed, and argumentative. This effort bears comparison with the greatest argumentative effort to establish via metaphysico-interpretive means the distinctive truth of Christianity: Hegel's-in his Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion." — Journal of Mind and Behavior

"Graham's book is ambitious, in both the range of 'Wittgensteinian' positions it seeks to discredit and the points it advances on its own behalf." — Philosophy in Review

From the Publisher