Ludwig Wittgenstein’s theory of family resemblances offers an insight into Christian unity.

Ludwig Wittgenstein offers a valuable point of view in thinking about definitions and categories. His theory of family resemblance states that it is misleading to believe that one essential characteristic holds categories together; rather he argues that categories may be connected by a series of overlapping affinities. Let me offer a lengthy quote, in view of its sheer simplicity and brilliance:

Consider, for example, the activities that we call “games.” I mean board-games, card-games, ball-games, athletic contests, and so on. What is common to them all? – Don’t say: “They must have something in common, or they would not be called ‘games;’” – but look and see whether there is anything common to all. – For if you look at them, you won’t see something that is common to all, but similarities, affinities, and a whole series of them at that. To repeat: don’t think, but look! – Look, for example, at board-games, with their various affinities. Now pass to card-games; here you find many correspondences with the first group, but many common features drop out, and others appear. When we pass next to ball-games, much that is common is with noughts and crosses. Or is there always winning and losing, or competition between players? Think of patience. In ball-games, there is winning and losing; but when a child throws his ball at the wall and catches it again, this feature has disappeared. Look at the parts played by skill and luck, and at the difference between skill in chess and skill in tennis. Think now of singing and dancing games; here we have the element of entertainment, but how many other characteristic features have disappeared! And we can go through the many, many other groups of games in the same way, can see how similarities crop up and disappear. And the upshot of these considerations is: we see a complicated network of similarities overlapping and criss-crossing: similarities in the large and in the small.[1]

If Wittgenstein is correct (and I am persuaded that he is), then the idea of family resemblances can be helpful in thinking about unity in the church.

Rather than looking at the one essential theological doctrine that a person needs to hold onto to be considered within “the fold,” it may be helpful to consider a constellation of things. This view is honest and useful in my opinion, because no two people or groups have the same theology. There are family resemblances. Such a train of thought may be helpful in thinking about the myriad of complexities in our world.

[1] Ludwig Wittgenstein. Philosophical Investigations, ∫ 69.