Philosophy

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Nicholas Wolterstorff

Nicholas Wolterstorff

Noah Porter Professor of Philosophical Theology Emeritus
nicholas.wolterstorff@yale.edu

Areas of Interests

Philosophy of Religion, Aesthetics, Metaphysics, Epistemology

Nicholas Wolterstorff received his BA from Calvin College in 1953 and his PhD in philosophy from Harvard University in 1956. Before taking up his current position as Noah Porter Professor of Philosophical Theology, he taught for two years at Yale, and then for thirty years at his alma mater, Calvin College.

After concentrating on metaphysics at the beginning of his career (ON UNIVERSALS), he spent a good many years working primarily on aesthetics and philosophy of art (WORKS AND WORLDS OF ART, and ART IN ACTION). In more recent years, he has been concentrating on epistemology (JOHN LOCKE AND THE ETHICS OF BELIEF, and the just published, THOMAS REID AND THE STORY OF EPISTEMOLOGY), on philosophy of religion (DIVINE DISCOURSE, and, with Alvin Plantinga, FAITH AND RATIONALITY), and political philosophy (UNTIL JUSTICE AND PEACE EMBRACE, and, with Robert Audi, RELIGION IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE).

In the fall of 1993 he gave the Wilde Lectures at Oxford University (published as DIVINE DISCOURSE), and in the spring of 1995 he gave the Gifford Lectures at St Andrews University (part of which is now published as THOMAS REID AND THE STORY OF EPISTEMOLOGY). He has been president of the American Philosophical Association (Central Division), and of the Society of Christian Philosophers.

He regularly teaches lecture courses in philosophy of religion and aesthetics, and seminars in epistemology, hermeneutics, and philosophy of religion.

Education

PhD 1957, Harvard University

Current or Recent Courses Taught

  • Philosophy of Religion
  • Theological Hermeneutics (Seminar)
  • Origin & Structure of the Classical Concept of God (Seminar)
  • Theological Aesthetics (Seminar)

Selected Publications

  • On Universals (Chicago, 1970)
  • Reason within the Bounds of Religion (Eerdmans, 1976, second ed. 1984)
  • Works and Worlds of Art (Oxford, 1980)
  • Art in Action (Eerdmans, 1980, second ed. 1995)
  • Until Justice and Peace Embrace (Eerdmans, 1983, second. ed 1994)
  • Faith and Rationality (co–edited with Alvin Plantinga, Notre Dame, 1984)
  • Divine Discourse (Cambridge, 1995)
  • John Locke and Ethics of Belief, (Cambridge, 1996)
  • Religion in the Public Square, with R. Audi (Rowman and Littlefield, 1997)
  • Thomas Reid and the Story of Epistemology (Cambridge, 2001)