Some Issues in Religious Language

Abstract

This article presents a preliminary outline of several issues concerning religious language, based on a synthesis and analysis of recent academic literature. The study focuses on identifying the characteristics and modes of expression of religious language. It also provides a brief discussion of theological, philosophical, sociological, and linguistic approaches to the study of religious language. With regard to the modes of expression, it becomes evident that current theoretical linguistics still lacks appropriate tools for analyzing religious language. The Critical Discourse Analysis approach, supported by recent developments in corpus linguistics, offers a promising frameworkfor further research.