The philosophy of language studies language and communication. We take it for granted that we can communicate about the world and be understood by others. Below the surface this ability is astounding. How can a symbolic item like a sentence latch onto the world in a way that enables us to talk to each other about that world? And languages, at least natural ones, are a quirky combination of rule-bound and fluid, including speech that is literal or metaphorical or that oscillates between the two. Formal languages such as maths or logic, in contrast, are highly precise, yet for that very reason are unsuited to everyday communication. And language goes beyond the symbolic, with real power to command others, create realities (such as promises), hurt or offend others, or give or withhold sexual consent. Language can be just as much a tool for manipulation as for communication, and understanding how it works can empower and protect us. 

The philosophy of language finds fertile territory when applied to religion. As puzzling as it is that linguistic symbols can point to the world, and that two people can use the same symbol to talk about the world, it is all the more puzzling how – and whether – anyone can talk about beings such as God that transcend the world. But can we talk at all about what is fundamentally ineffable? If metaphors rather than literal speech can help, how can metaphors refer at all, let alone something like God? Beyond the puzzles of religious language itself are questions about how language can be used in social religious contexts – to bring about social realities such as marriage or (putative) spiritual realities such as absolution, how it can be used to talk to God in prayer, and how it can be abused to manipulate religious communities.