ABSTRACT
It is now time to see how one can succumb to this temptation, Lindbeck does so in thinking that, once one recognises that doctrinal statements are grammatical statements, it is easier to see, how there can be doctrinal reconciliation without capitulation. It is hard to follow Lindbeck's analysis because he claims that doctrines are not first-order propositions. He says this because, for him, first-order propositions make claims about extra-linguistic realities. Once again this involves the confusion of grammars which we have already had occasion to note. Having noted that doctrinal statements are grammatical statements, Lindbeck says that the grammar is 'inevitably imperfect' because it has exceptions, and may only express surface grammar and miss the depth grammar. Despite the twists and turns of his argument, the audience Lindbeck has to face is the familiar ragged one of different religious traditions and emphases present to us within Christianity, not to mention different religions.
