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end p.219
9 RELIGIOUS LANGUAGE
William P. Alston
1. Introduction
The first order of business is the disavowal of the title. To speak of religious “language”
is, at best, misleading. There is no language that is used only for religious purposes. “Do
you speak English, French, or religious?” What this jibe reflects is that in the proper
sense of “language,” in which it is what is studied by linguists, a language contains
resources for anything that its users have occasion for talking about. The term “religious
language” is a special case of the bad habit of philosophers to speak of a special language
for each terminology or broad subject matter (the “language of physics,” the “language of
ethics,” etc.). This evinces neglect of the crucial distinction between language and
speech. The former is an abstract system that is employed primarily for communication,
and the latter is that employment. What is erroneously called religious language is the use
of language (any language) in connection with the practice of religion—in prayer,
worship, praise, thanksgiving, confession, ritual, preaching, instruction, exhortation,
theological reflection, and so on. Despite what I have just said, I will continue to go along
with the term religious language, and not only in the title. It is too well entrenched in the
literature to be wholly ignored.
The laundry list just given indicates the tremendous range of religious uses of language.
Another way of bringing this out is to consider the diversity to be found in religious
writings. Sacred books contain cosmological speculations, fictional narratives, historical
records, predictions, commandments, reflections on human life, moral insights,
theological pronouncements, and legal codes. In devotional literature we find
biographical reminiscences, theologizing, rules of spiritual life, suggestions for spiritual
development, and descriptions of religious experience.