Professor Montgomery, while a student at Cornell University, had contact with Norman Malcolm, disciple and close friend of Wittgenstein, and cut his teeth in formal logic under the instruction of Max Black, allegedly one of the very few to have understood on first reading Russell and Whitehead‘s argumentation in their Principia Mathematica. Montgomery‘s university teaching career in history, law, literature, and theology, combined with that philosophical background, led to the production of the present work, which offers a comprehensive apologetic for classical Christianity. Consisting of over 1,800 propositions in logical sequence, Montgomery‘s Tractatus is accompanied by detailed scripture, name, and subject indexes. The coverage is remarkable, embracing logic, literature, history, myth, science, philosophy, jurisprudence, political theory, and theology – interspersed throughout with the wit and rapier thrusts of a TRACTATUSTRACTATUS barrister at home in adversarial contexts. Wittgenstein‘s Tractatus, having demonstrated the limits of any non-transcendental attempt to understand the world, ended with the proposition, “Of that which one cannot speak, one must remain silent.” Montgomery, after setting forth in depth the overwhelming case for the very transcendental revelation for which Wittgenstein longed but never found, concludes: “Whereof one can speak, thereof one must not be silent.” The Tractatus Logico-Theologicus purports to break new ground apologetically, as did the Tractatus Logico- LOGICO-LOGICO- Philosophicus epistemologically. It should be of particular interest to philosophers of religion, theologians, pastors, historians of ideas, and to everyone seeking solid answers for the ultimate questions which plague all of us at one time or another, especially during what St John of the Cross labeled “the dark night of the soul.” Professor Montgomery, a UK and US citizen, resides in England and in France. He is the author and editor of more than THEOLOGICUS fifty books in five languages (for information about his other publications, see http://www.ciltpp.com). Biographical THEOLOGICUS articles on him appear in Who‘s Who in America, Who‘s Who in France, the European Biographical Directory, Contemporary Authors, and Who‘s Who in the World. “The name of John Warwick Montgomery deserves to be mentioned alongside of C. S. Lewis and Francis Schaeffer as one of the 20th century’s most articulate defenders of historic Christianity. Written in the style of the early Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Theologicus is vintage Montgomery. It brings together and updates several decades of his thought, as it provides a clear, articulate defense of the truth of Christianity, the existence of God, the inerrancy of Holy Scripture, and the fundamental importance of Christian revelation for addressing the human condition. I know of no other book like it, and given the renewed focus on religion in these troubled yet pluralistic times, Tractatus Logico-Theologicus is must reading for anyone who wants to know how to choose a religion intelligently.” J. P. Moreland, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, La Mirada, California “John Warwick Montgomery is one of the most important apologists for biblical Christianity in our time. This is his magnum opus. In it he refutes pluralism (the view that all religions are just different ways to God and none is a THEOLOGICUS LOGICO - TRACTATUS superior way of salvation) and postmodernism (the view that there is no discoverable truth that is both universal and absolute); he then sets out the evidence validating Christianity’s truth claim. Do not go into battle without reading this book.” Paul D. Feinberg, Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois 3rd revised edition ISBN 3-932829-80-8 JOHN WARWICK MONTGOMERY ISSN 1436-0292 Theologisches Lehr- und Studienmaterial 11 Theologisches Lehr- und Studienmaterial Theologisches Lehr- und Studienmaterial 11 Theologisches Lehr- und Studienmaterial Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft (Culture and Science Publ.) Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher VKW VKW VKW John Warwick Montgomery John Warwick Montgomery TRACTATUS LOGICO-THEOLOGICUS Christliche Philosophie heute Christian Philosophy Today Quomodo Philosophia Christianorum Hodie Estimatur Band 1 Band 1 John Warwick Montgomery Tractatus Logico-Theologicus Band 2 John W. Montgomery Hat die Weltgeschichte einen Sinn? Geschichtsphilosophien auf dem Prüfstand Band 3 John W. Montgomery Jésus: La raison rejoint l'historie Band 4 Horst Waldemar Beck Marken dieses Äons: Wissenschaftskritische und theologische Diagnosen Band 5 Ross Clifford John Warwick Montgomery’s Legal Apologetic Theologisches Lehr- und Studienmaterial (Martin Bucer Seminar) Band 11 im Auftrag des Martin Bucer Seminars herausgegeben von Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher John Warwick Montgomery TRACTATUS LOGICO-THEOLOGICUS John Warwick Montgomery A.B. with Distinction in Philosophy, Cornell University B.L.S., M.A., University of California at Berkeley B.D., S.T.M., Wittenberg University M.Phil. in Law, University of Essex, England LL.M., LL.D., Cardiff University, Wales Ph.D., University of Chicago Th.D., University of Strasbourg, France Dr. (h.c.), Institute for Religion and Law, Moscow, Russia Christian Philosophy Today 1 Theologisches Lehr- und Studienmaterial 11 Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft Culture and Science Publ. Bonn 2005 Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP - Einheitsaufnahme Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Bibliothek Die Deutsche Bibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.ddb.de abrufbar. Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Bibliothek Die Deutsche Bibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;detailed bibliographic data is available in the Internet at http://dnb.ddb.de. © 2005 by Prof. Dr Dr Dr John Warwick Montgomery, 2, rue de Rome 67000 Strasbourg France e-mail: [email protected] 1. Aufl. 2002, 2. überarb. Aufl. 2003, 3. überarb. Aufl. 2005 1st edition 2002, 2nd revised edition 2003, 3rd revised edition 2005 ISBN 3-938116-03-X ISSN 1436-0292 (Theologisches Lehr- und Studienmaterial) Printed in Germany Satz: Ron Kubsch Umschlaggestaltung und Gesamtherstellung: BoD Beese Druck, Friedensallee 76, 22765 Hamburg Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft (Culture and Science Publ.) Friedrichstr. 38, 53111 Bonn Fax 0228/9650389 www.vkwonline.de/[email protected] Verlagsauslieferung: Hänssler Verlag 71087 Holzgerlingen, Tel. 07031/7414-177 Fax -119 www.haenssler.de/[email protected] For A “ Fellowship of the Ring”—Andreae’s Civitas Christiana Harold O. J. Brown Ross Clifford Howard Hoffman Will Moore Craig Parton George Poulos Rod Rosenbladt Alex Dos Santos Jeff Schwarz Gene Edward Veith Graham Walker Todd Wilken And Its Members Already in the Western Isles Herman Eckelmann Walter Martin Robert Preus INTRODUCTION Of the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, Wittgenstein wrote: “Perhaps this book will be understood only by someone who has himself already had the thoughts that are expressed in it—or at least similar thoughts.—So it is not a textbook.” The same may be said of the present work. Critics will attack this Tractatus on a number of grounds. The religious liberals, the presuppositionalists, and the pietists will dismiss it as a work of rationalism. Theological conservatives will say that Wittgenstein was little more than a misguided mystic and unworthy of offering methodolog- ical insights in the religious area. Many in the philosophical community will say that a work such as this shows no recognition of the replacement of Wittgenstein I by Wittgenstein II—the Wittgenstein of the Philosophi- cal Investigations, who allegedly gave up all interest in verification for the sake of linguistic analysis and the substitution of puzzles for genuine phil- osophical problems. Since the present work is only structurally modeled on the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, much of this criticism will be beside the point. But we note en passant that Wittgenstein himself wanted his Philosophical In- vestigations, if published, to appear bound together with his Tractatus: surely indicating that he did not intend his language games to float free of all relationship with the world, much less of verification. G. A. Smith has quite properly shown that Wittgenstein’s later philosophy of language cre- ates legitimate scepticism concerning “the presumption that rational, log- ical thinking is always or ultimately a deductive mental process. But this is not to cast doubt on the possibility of rational, logical thinking.”1And to those in philosophy and in religion who regard verification as unimportant, we point out the obvious: either they think that all mutually contradictory positions are somehow true; or they are unconcerned with the effects of metaphysical error on individual and societal life. One would think that the events of 11 September 2001 would have put paid to such indifferentism. The author, though an undergraduate majoring in philosophy and the classics at Cornell University during the time Wittgenstein visited Norman 1 Gene Anne Smith, “Wittgenstein and the Sceptical Fallacy,” 3/2 Canadian J. of Law and Jurisprudence 155 at 179-80 (July 1990); cf. C. B. Daly, “New Light on Wittgenstein,” 10 Philo- sophical Studies 5-49 (1960). 7 Malcolm, never had the privilege of meeting Wittgenstein. There was con- tact with Malcolm, who perhaps