Wittgenstein and Christianity: 1914–1938

In “Notes on Talks with Wittgenstein”, Waismann reports Wittgenstein saying that in speaking about ethics “I can only appear as a person speaking for myself.” If we combine this with another remark, “What is Good is Divine too. That, strangely enough, sums up my ethics”, it suggests that an understanding of Wittgenstein’s personal involvement with the teachings of Christianity is fundamental for an interpretation of his “Lecture on Ethics” (1929) and “Lectures on Religious Belief” (1938). From the evidence of his personal writings, in particular the coded notebooks of 1914–16 and MS183, which record remarks made in 1930–32, 1936–37, Wittgenstein’s relationship to the teaching of Christianity is complex. During WW1, Wittgenstein found a form of Christian teaching immensely helpful, it seemed to him the only sure way to happiness. This influence is still apparent in “Lecture on Ethics”. Remarks made in 1936–37 show Wittgenstein’s relationship with Christianity becoming more troubled, as his critical self-consciousness arising from thoughts about the teaching of the New Testament become increasingly debilitating. He begins to find that the Christian teaching is becoming a source of madness rather than one of happiness. He accepts that a life of faith would require him to live a completely different life from the one that suits him. He begins to think that an ordinary life and his philosophical work might be the solution to his state of unhappiness. In “Lectures on Religious Belief”, Wittgenstein’s remarks are made from a position which is more personally disengaged. Wittgenstein is now investigating religious belief as a human phenomenon and not as something with which he is any longer personally involved, but his personal experience, particularly his experience of loss of faith, is still fundamental to how he understands the phenomenon.