ABSTRACT
Religious language embraces a wide range of phenomena. Believers may use the language of religion to make statements (sentences which are true or false), to give expression to feelings, or to bring about some state of affairs in the very act of speaking (as when it is said ‘I baptize you…’). Or again, believers may speak in religious terms in order to prescribe, to exhort, or to declare their intention of behaving in a certain way. Moreover, the statements of the believer may have to do with for instance putative events in human history, or with ethical norms, or they may offer (what appear to be) descriptions with a metaphysical reference. Clearly, the field of religious language is broad and complex.
