Reformed Epistemology and the Problem of Religious Diversity: Proper Function Epistemic Disagreement and Christian Exclusivism

Description: Can Christian belief be warranted? Can someone hold to Christian exclusivism even in the face of mutually exclusive religious belief systems? In contemporary philosophy of religion there has been much debate about whether the diversity of mutually exclusive religious beliefs is a good reason to give up any form of religious exclusivism. Amidst this discussion the Christian exclusivist claims that the tenets of Christianity are true and mutually exclusive religious views are false. Opponents of Christian belief argue however that the diversity of mutually exclusive religious beliefs is a good reason to give up ones Christian exclusivism. This is the problem of religious diversity for Christian exclusivism. In this book Joseph Kim defends Christian belief in conversation with the problem of religious diversity and argues that mutually exclusive religious beliefs do not serve as defeaters for Christian belief. Kim engages Alvin Plantingas proper function account of warrant and argues that the Christian exclusivist need not give up her Christian belief when faced with the problem of religious diversity even when she is unable to give an argument for the truth of Christian belief to those that disagree. This book also explores the areas surrounding the problem of religious diversity and serves as a good introduction to the central issues that intersect contemporary epistemology and the philosophy of religion. Endorsements: Joseph Kims extremely careful judicious and accurate defense of Christian belief deserves a wide readership. --Alvin Plantinga John A. OBrien Professor of Philosophy University of Notre Dame Reformed Epistemology--one of the more important and controversial movements in recent epistemology of religion--has been criticized for failing to deal adequately with issues stemming from religious disagreement. In this helpful work Joseph Kim carefully explains Alvin Plantingas version of Reformed Epistemology and defends it against criticisms based upon religious diversity and disagreement. --Harold Netland Professor of Philosophy of Religion and Intercultural Studies Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Joseph Kims Reformed Epistemology and the Problem of Religious Diversity is a careful perceptive and well informed study of one important family of objections to Alvin Plantingas version of Reformed Epistemology. It should be of interest not only to readers of Plantinga but also those who are concerned about the rationality of exclusive religious belief and those who have been following recent debates about the epistemology of informed disagreement. --Steven L. Reynolds Associate Professor of Philosophy Arizona State University About the Contributor(s): Joseph Kim is Executive Vice-President of CBI Japan in Nagoya Japan. He is an alumnus of Trinity International University Harvard Business School and Arizona State University where he received his PhD in Philosophy.