ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a bold claim made by Brian S. Clack in his noteworthy book, An Introduction to Wittgenstein's Philosophy of Religion. Clack's book is, in most respects, excellent. It provides a painstaking examination of Wittgenstein's view of religion both in the early and later phases of his thought on the subject. Clack recognizes that Wittgenstein was serious about religion. He takes seriously Wittgenstein's pointed reminders about the terribly serious nature of religious belief and its requirements, how deep and pervasive a commitment they impose, how relentlessly the true believer must strive to remain true to that commitment, and how easily one can stumble into a self-deceived counterfeit of religion. Far more damaging to Clack's case it can be seriously questioned whether even Spengler himself believed that Western civilization had declined to the point where religion must give way to an 'apocalyptic atheism'. Clack suggests directly that Wittgenstein's view of religious language may have alienated him from religion.
