Nicholas Wolterstorff

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Nicholas Wolterstorff
Born
Nicholas Paul Wolterstorff

(1932-01-21) January 21, 1932 (age 92)
Spouse
Claire Wolterstorff
(m. 1955)
Academic background
Calvin College
  • Harvard University
  • ThesisWhitehead's Theory of Individuals (1956)
    Academic advisorsDonald Cary Williams[1]
    Influences
    Academic work
    Discipline
    Doctoral studentsPhillip Cary
    Notable ideasReformed epistemology
    Influenced

    Nicholas Paul Wolterstorff (born January 21, 1932) is an

    theologian. He is currently Noah Porter Professor Emeritus of Philosophical Theology at Yale University.[2] A prolific writer with wide-ranging philosophical and theological interests, he has written books on aesthetics, epistemology, political philosophy, philosophy of religion, metaphysics, and philosophy of education. In Faith and Rationality, Wolterstorff, Alvin Plantinga, and William Alston developed and expanded upon a view of religious epistemology that has come to be known as Reformed epistemology.[3] He also helped to establish the journal Faith and Philosophy and the Society of Christian Philosophers
    .

    Biography

    Wolterstorff was born on January 21, 1932,

    Calvin College and taught for 30 years.[5]
    He is now teaching at Yale as Noah Porter Professor Emeritus Philosophical Theology.

    In 1987 Wolterstorff published Lament for a Son after the untimely death of his 25-year-old son Eric in a mountain climbing accident. In a series of short essays, Wolterstorff recounts how he drew on his Christian faith to cope with his grief. Wolterstorff explained that he published the book "in the hope that it will be of help to some of those who find themselves with us in the company of mourners."[7]

    He has been a visiting professor at

    Vrije Universiteit), and the University of Virginia. In 2007, he received an honorary Doctorate in Philosophy from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.[8]
    He has been retired since June 2002.

    Wolterstorff published his

    William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. in 2019, illustrating the close relationship between his personal life and his distinguished academic career.[9]

    Professional distinctions

    Endowed lectureships

    Wolterstorff speaking at a conference in South Korea in 2014

    Personal life

    Nicholas Wolterstorff lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with his wife Claire. He has four grown children. His oldest son died in a mountain climbing accident at age 25. He has seven grandchildren.

    Thought

    While an undergraduate at Calvin College, Wolterstorff was greatly influenced by professors

    common sense philosophy. (These have also influenced the thinking of his friend and colleague Alvin Plantinga
    , another alumnus of Calvin College).

    Wolterstorff builds upon the ideas of the Scottish common-sense philosopher Thomas Reid, who approached knowledge "from the bottom-up". Instead of reasoning about transcendental conditions of knowledge, Wolterstorff suggests that knowledge and our knowing faculties are not the subject of our research but have to be seen as its starting point. He rejects classical foundationalism and instead sees knowledge as based upon insights in reality which are direct and indubitable.[5] In Justice in Love, he rejects fundamentist notions of Christianity that hold to the necessity of the penal substitutionary atonement and justification by faith alone.

    Bibliography

    Selected writings

    • On Universals: An Essay in Ontology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1970.
    • Reason within the Bounds of Religion.
      William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
      1976. 2nd ed. 1984
    • Works and Worlds of Art. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1980.
    • Art in Action: Toward a Christian Aesthetic. Grand Rapids:
      William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
      1980. 2nd ed. 1995
    • Educating for Responsible Action. Grand Rapids:
      William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
      1980.
    • Until Justice and Peace Embrace. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. 1983. 2nd ed. 1994.
    • Faith and Rationality: Reason and Belief in God (ed. with Alvin Plantinga). Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. 1984.
    • Lament for a Son. Grand Rapids:
      William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
      1987.
    • "Suffering Love" in Philosophy and the Christian Faith (ed.Thomas V. Morris). Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. 1988.
    • Divine Discourse: Philosophical Reflections on the Claim That God Speaks. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1995.
    • John Locke and the Ethics of Belief. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1996.
    • Religion in the Public Square (with Robert Audi). Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield. 1997.
    • Thomas Reid and the Story of Epistemology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2001.
    • Educating for Life: Reflections on Christian Teaching and Learning. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic. 2002.
    • "An Engagement with Rorty" in The Journal of Religious Ethics, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Spring, 2003), pp. 129–139.
    • Educating for Shalom: Essays on Christian Higher Education. Grand Rapids:
      William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
      2004.
    • Justice: Rights and Wrongs. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 2008.
    • Inquiring about God: Selected Essays, Volume I (ed. Terence Cuneo). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2009.
    • Practices of Belief: Selected Essays, Volume II (ed. Terence Cuneo). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2009.
    • Hearing the Call: Liturgy, Justice, Church, and World .
      William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
      2011.
    • The Mighty and the Almighty: An Essay in Political Theology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2012.
    • Journey toward Justice: Personal Encounters in the Global South. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic. 2013.
    • Understanding Liberal Democracy: Essays in Political Philosophy (ed. Terence Cuneo). Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2012.
    • Art Rethought: The Social Practices of Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2015.
    • Justice in Love. Grand Rapids:
      Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
      2015.
    • The God We Worship: An Exploration of Liturgical Theology. Grand Rapids:
      William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
      2015.
    • Acting Liturgically: Philosophical Reflections on Religious Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2018.
    • In This World of Wonders: Memoir of a Life in Learning. Grand Rapids:
      William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
      2019.
    • United in Love: Essays on Justice, Art, and Liturgy. (ed. Joshua Cockayne and Jonathan Rutledge). Eugene, OR:

    Secondary

    • Sloane, Andrew, On Being A Christian in the Academy: Nicholas Wolterstorff and the Practice of Christian Scholarship, Paternoster, Carlisle UK, 2003.

    See also

    References

    1. JSTOR 27653995
      .
    2. ^ a b "Nicholas Wolterstorff". religiousstudies.yale.edu. Retrieved 2018-12-03.
    3. ^ Forrest, Peter (2017). Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2017 ed.). Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.
    4. ^ "CV:Nicholas Paul Wolterstorff" (PDF). s3.amazonaws.com.
    5. ^ a b c "Nicholas Wolterstorff". The Gifford Lectures. 18 August 2014. Retrieved 2018-12-03.
    6. ^ "6 Questions with Nicholas Wolterstorff". EerdWord (publisher blog). 18 January 2019. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
    7. ^ "Lament for a Son". Eerdmans. Retrieved 2019-05-15.
    8. ^ "Honorary doctorates", Top researchers, NL: VU.
    9. ^ "In This World of Wonders". Eerdmans. Retrieved 2019-05-15.

    External links

    Academic offices
    Preceded by Gifford Lecturer at the University of St Andrews
    1995
    Succeeded by
    Professional and academic associations
    Preceded by President of the Society of Christian Philosophers
    1992–1995
    Succeeded by