Not Beyond Language

“Addressing the difficulty of speaking about God, and religious language more broadly, Khay Lim brings together an astonishing range of theological and philosophical issues. Around his central discussions of Wittgenstein and Lindbeck he weaves an intricate tissue of references, drawing upon thinkers from Aristotle to Augustine, Aquinas, Hume, Heidegger, Rorty, and D. Z. Phillips. This is a deeply learned and profoundly knowing discussion of the matter of ‘God talk.’”


—David Jasper, University of Glasgow





“This is a clear, honest, and balanced study that explores with appropriate scholarly depth the literature on Wittgenstein, Lindbeck, and their significance for theology today. It promises to be a valuable resource for others who wish to explore the nature of religious language.”


—David A. S. Fergusson, University of Cambridge





“A theologian with a magisterial grasp of how traditions of religious practice both connect and disconnect with one another, Dr. Khay Lim finds resources for serious ecumenical agreement by proposing how religious believers may steer their conversations with one another along, claims either to inerrancy or infallibility. Both critical and reconstructive, reading this book sharpens up our understanding of the interplay of word and practice expressed in our differences, and consequently how we may relish them in the hunt for truth in theology.”


—Ann Loades, Durham University and University of St Andrews





“In shaping understanding of the nature of religious language, two of the most important figures in the twentieth century were Ludwig Wittgenstein (d. 1951) and George Lindbeck (d. 2018), the former with his notion of language games, the latter with his idea of a cultural-linguistic approach to doctrine. For some, though, their insights are seen as unnecessarily restrictive, a threat to the objectivity of religious belief. In a book which is a model of clarity in both argument and exposition, Dr. Lim brilliantly advances the claim that the exact opposite is the case. A wide range of potential contexts and allusiveness in metaphor and symbol entail a richness of meaning even for centuries-old imagery, while an inevitable lack of precision means only that God is never fully contained by our words, not that truth fails to emerge. This is a work of relevance to conservative and liberal Christian alike.”


—David Brown, University of St Andrews





“Khay Lim’s attractively written book offers a thoughtful and convincing justification for the claim that it is possible to speak about God, despite God’s transcendence. This is a topic that is of perennial concern to theologians and philosophers of religion. I particularly commend the author’s detailed yet accessible account of Wittgenstein’s contribution to the debate.”


—Jeff Astley, Durham University and Bishop Grosseteste University