ABSTRACT
Wittgenstein’s treatment of religion has been the subject of controversy with regard both to its nature and applications to problems in the philosophy of religion. There has been profound disagreement about how to handle his writings in this area. At present there is no consensus over the direction which should be taken. Many philosophers and theologians regard Wittgensteinian fideism1 as essentially defining what his view of religion is. Significant disputes about the reading of Wittgenstein’s work on religious topics arise from examining fideism.2 For the purposes of this discussion, fideism3 will be deemed to be exemplified by the writings of D.Z Phillips.4 Consideration of Phillips’ treatment of the concept of internalism and the role it plays in his understanding of Wittgenstein provides a perspective from which to investigate interpretative issues.5
