Ludwig Wittgenstein (188%1951) is universally recognized in the English-speaking world as one of the most original and influential philosophers of the twentieth century. Wittgenstein's influence on philosophy of religion, at least in the second half of this century, has not been any less significant than his influence on other regions of philosophy. What has not been widely recognized is how intensely interested he was in religious beliefs and practices and how his own life reflected a passionate religious sensibility and faith. Such interest on Wittgenstein's part may very well raise the question whether his was a religious philosophy, that is, whether religion held a central place in his life and thought. In this paper I wish to direct attention to a religious dimension of his life and thought which has been all too often neglected. In order to carry that out I shall offer one set of comments about Wittgenstein's own religious life, if one should choose to call it that, and another set of comments about what he wrote concerning the nature of religious faith itself.
Thirty nine years have passed since Wittgenstein's death, and yet philosophers and theologians are just beginning to realize that Wittgenstein had more than just an idle word here and there to say about religious belief and practices. Such is the case notwithstanding Wittgenstein's own claim, as reported by his close friend Maurice O'Connor Drury (to his friends he was called Con), that "If you and I are to live religious lives, it musn't be that we talk a lot about religion. ''1 Despite the claims of some commentators 2 there is, I believe, increasing evidence to * An earlier version of this paper was presented as the Presidential Address at the 51 st annual meeting of The Society for the Philosophy of Religion in Savannah, Georgia on 3 March 1989. The address commemorated the centenary of Ludwig Wittgenstein's birth. He was born on 26 April 1889 in Vienna, Austria.