"Analitic philosophy of religion and theology after Frege and Wittgenstein"

Research Seminar of the Professorship for Philosophy at the Faculty of Theology: 

If the theology of Thomas Aquinas would be inconceivable without the philosophy of Aristotle and Neoplatonism, then that of Karl Rahner would be inconceivable without that of Kant and Heidegger. Similarly, liberation theology would not have come about without the philosophy of Marx, and process theology without that of Whitehead.

In today's philosophical landscape, analytical philosophy occupies a prominent, if not dominant, place alongside ‘continental’ philosophy, to which the above-mentioned philosophers belong. Does analytical philosophy, and in particular its two founding fathers, Gottlob Frege and Ludwig Wittgenstein, have an influence on theology?

A first attempt in this direction was made by Fergus Kerr: Theology After Wittgenstein. There is no theology after Frege yet. Certainly, however, analytical philosophy has given rise to what is known as analytical philosophy of religion, which has much in common with theology. Are there points of contact between contemporary ‘continental’ theology and ‘analytical’ theology, if such a thing exists?

The lecture series has two objectives: to examine topics in theology and philosophy of religion that are inspired by analytical philosophy, and to search for topics and problems that are common to contemporary ‘continental’ and ‘analytical’ theology.

The lectures are also designed as an academic workshop in the sense that they will attempt to identify paths for future research. The lectures will be held in German or English.

Programme:

16.09.2025, 14:15 - 16:00 Uhr, HS 12

Introduction I: Giovanni Ventimiglia (Lucerne): Is there theology without (a) philosophy?

23.09.2025, 14:15 - 16:00 Uhr, HS 12

Introduction II: Dario Affronti (Lucerne): Two relevant books: Kerr, Theology after Wittgenstein; Antognazza, Thinking with Assent: Renewing a Traditional Account of Knowledge and Belief

 30.09.2025, 14:15 - 16:00 Uhr, HS 12

Ursula Schumacher (Lucerne): History of Theology in the 20th Century

07.10.2025, 14:15 - 16:00 Uhr, HS 12

Theology after Frege I: Giovanni Ventimiglia (Lucerne): De Deo Uno (God’s names) after Frege

14.10.2025, 14:15 - 16:00 Uhr, HS 12

Theology after Frege II: David Anzalone (Lucerne): De Deo uno. Divine aseity and the challenge from Platonism

21.10.2025, 14:15 - 16:00 Uhr, HS 12

Theology after Frege III: Giovanni Ventimiglia (Lucerne): De Deo trino (God’s multiplicity) after Frege

28.10.2025, 14:15 - 16:00 Uhr, HS 12

Theology after Wittgenstein I: Ryan Mullins (Lucerne/Helsinki): History of analytic philosophy of religion in the 20th Century

04.11.2025, 14:15 - 16:00 Uhr, HS 12

Theology after Wittgenstein II: Dario Affronti (Lucerne): De fide. Faith, Doubt and Certainty: a Wittgensteinian approach

11.11.2025, 14:15 - 16:00 Uhr, HS 12  Guest speaker

Theology after Wittgenstein III: Hanne Appelqvist (Helsinki): De divinis nominibus (I) Wittgenstein on the Ineffability of God

18.11.2025, 14:15 - 16:00 Uhr, HS 12  Guest speaker

Theology after Wittgenstein IV: Simon Hewitt (Leeds): Grammatical Thomism

25.11.2025, 14:15 - 16:00 Uhr, HS 12

Theology after Wittgenstein V: Seyedali Taghavinasab (Lucerne): De divinis nominibus (II) Wittgenstein and the Non-Realist Approach to Religious Language

02.12.2025, 14:15 - 16:00 Uhr, HS 12  Guest speaker

Theology after Wittgenstein VI: Christoph Jäger (Innsbruck): " 'Opinion' sounds queer" -- Wittgenstein's lectures on religious belief

09.12.2025, 14:15 - 16:00 Uhr, HS 12

Back to Kant: Margit Wasmaier-Sailer (Lucerne): Why Reformed Epistemology Should Turn to the Idealist Philosophy of Religion

16.12.2025, 14:15 - 16:00 Uhr, HS 12

New research avenues

 

Who are the guest speakers?

Simon Hewitt is Associate Professor of Theology in the School of Philosophy, Religion, and the History of Science at the University of Leeds. His work lies in Christian theology and the philosophy of religion, particularly within the tradition of grammatical Thomism. He is the author of Negative Theology and Philosophical Analysis: Only the Splendour of Light (Palgrave), Church and Revolution (Sacristy), Life After Death After Marx (Cambridge University Press), and numerous peer-reviewed articles. He serves as Editor for Religious Studies – International Journal for the Philosophy of Religion – Cambridge, Treasurer of the British Society for the Philosophy of Religion, and convenor of the Leeds History of Analytic Philosophy reading group.

Hanne Appelqvist is Director of Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki, and Docent of Theoretical Philosophy at both the University of Helsinki and University of Turku. Her research focuses on Wittgenstein (logic, grammar), the philosophy of religion, and aesthetics, particularly exploring affinities between Wittgenstein’s philosophy and Kant’s transcendental idealism. She is the author of Wittgenstein and the Limits of Language (Routledge, 2020), Wittgenstein and Aesthetics (CUP, 2023), among other works. Since 2018, she has been Editor-in-Chief of Estetika: The European Journal of Aesthetics, and since 2021 Chair of the Nordic Wittgenstein Society.

Christoph Jäger is Professor of Christian Philosophy at the University of Innsbruck, where he holds the Guardini Chair, heads the Department of Christian Philosophy, and directs the Institutum Philosophicum Oenipontanum. His research spans social and general epistemology, philosophy of religion, meta-emotions, and free will, with special interest in epistemic authority and the normativity of belief. His recent work includes “Epistemic Authority” (in the Oxford Handbook of Social Epistemology, 2025), “Falsche Autoritäten”, alongside earlier books such as The Ways Things Are: Studies in Ontology (De Gruyter, 2011). He regularly publishes articles engaging both contemporary analytic debates and historical Christian philosophical traditions

What is Islamic Philosophy?

Digital Open Day with a Lecture by Gary Carl (Muhammad) Legenhausen - Q&A - Introduction to the curriculum programme of the online Master's program «Philosophy, Theology and Religions»

Datum: 17. April 2023
Zeit: 18.00 Uhr
Ort: online

About Gary Carl (Muhammad) Legenhausen

Gary Carl (Muhammad) Legenhausen was born in 1953 in New York. He is an American professor of philosophy whose research interests lie primarily in western philosophy, philosophy of religion, and Islamic philosophy. To date he has taught various courses at many Iranian academic centres such as the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute, Qum University, Tarbiat Modarres University, etc. Moreover, he is currently teaching at Paderborn University, Germany. He holds a PhD in philosophy from Rice University (1983). In 1983, after he was acquainted with Shi’a Islam, he decided to convert his Catholic faith to Islam. As an advocate of what he calls “non-reductive religious pluralism”, he has written a book entitled Islam and Religious Pluralism. He has been a sympathizer of inter-faith/inter-religious dialogue, and has performed duties on the advisory board of the Society for Religious Studies in Qom. He is also a member of the founding board of the Shi`ite Studies Center in Qom, and serves on the scientific board of the Human Rights Center of Mofid University, Qom. In 2010, he was officially recognised as a perpetual figure (Chehriyi Māndigār) in Islamic studies.

About the MA

Philosophy study programmes are often designed in an agnostic way – as if God didn’t exist - and do not consider the documented growing interest in religion, both globally and among philosophy students in particular.

In those rare cases where religion is indeed considered, only the relationship between philosophy and Christianity is delved into, as if other religions, especially Judaism and Islam, did not exist and played little to no role in the history of philosophy.

The PhilTeR Master's fills these gaps with an international, interreligious and high quality online study programme in Philosophy, Theology and Religions.

Get to know more about the curriculum programme and have your questions answerd by Professors and our Tutors.

Register and get the Zoom link for the Open Day here.

Professur für Philosophie an der Theologischen Fakultät Zentrum für Theologie und Philosophie der Religionen