Language, Meaning and God: Essays in Honour of Herbert McCabe

This festschrift honors Herbert McCabe, the Dominican theologian who significantly influenced twentieth-century philosophical theology through his distinctive synthesis of Thomistic metaphysics and Wittgensteinian linguistic philosophy. The volume, edited by Brian Davies, assembles contributions that reflect McCabe's central preoccupations: the relationship between language and reality, the grammar of God-talk, and the integration of analytic philosophy with classical theism.

The essays explore McCabe's fundamental insight that questions about God cannot be divorced from questions about language and meaning. Following Aquinas while engaging contemporary philosophy, McCabe argued that God is not a being among beings but rather the source of all existence, requiring careful attention to how theological language functions. The contributors examine this approach across various domains, from metaphysics and ethics to sacramental theology and biblical interpretation.

Several essays address McCabe's critique of anthropomorphic conceptions of divinity, showing how he employed Wittgenstein's insights about language games to clarify traditional doctrines. His argument that God cannot be placed within any genus or category receives particular attention, as does his related claim that speaking of divine action requires analogical rather than univocal predication. The volume demonstrates how McCabe's linguistic turn served not to diminish theological claims but to protect divine transcendence while maintaining the meaningfulness of religious discourse.

The collection also explores McCabe's contributions to moral philosophy, particularly his neo-Thomistic virtue ethics and his analysis of human action. His integration of Marxist social criticism with Catholic theology receives treatment, showing how his philosophical method extended beyond purely theoretical concerns. Contributors examine his influential reading of Aquinas's Five Ways, his understanding of divine simplicity, and his approach to the problem of evil.

Throughout, the essays highlight McCabe's role in facilitating dialogue between Anglo-American analytical philosophy and Continental Thomism. His work challenged both the neo-scholastic manualist tradition and secular philosophical dismissals of theological discourse. The volume reveals how McCabe's careful attention to linguistic precision opened new possibilities for natural theology while respecting the apophatic tradition's warnings about the limits of God-talk. His influence on subsequent philosophical theology, particularly in Britain, emerges as substantial, offering a model for rigorous philosophical engagement with theological questions that avoids both fideism and rationalistic reduction.