Shalom and the Ethics of Belief

Against the individualism and abstractionism of standard modern accounts of justification and epistemic merit, Wolterstorff incorporates the ethics of belief within the full scope of a person's socio-moral accountability, an accountability that ultimately flows from the teleology of the world as intended by its creator and from the inherent value of humans as bearers of the divine image. This study explores Nicholas Wolterstorff's theory of ""situated rationality"" from a theological point of view and argues that it is in fact a doxastic ethic based upon the theology of Wolterstorff's neo-Calvinist, Kuyperian background, which emerges in terms of his biblical ethic and eschatology of shalom. Situated rationality, the sum of Wolterstorff's decades-long work on epistemology and rationality is a shalom doxastic ethic--a Christian, common grace ethic of doxastic (even religious doxastic) pluralism.

""In Shalom and the Ethics of Belief, Nathan Shannon skillfully brings to light connections between two areas of my thought that I myself have never explicitly connected in my published writings, namely, the theory of entitled belief that I developed in my writings on epistemology, and the account of justice and shalom that I developed in my writings on social justice. Shannon identifies some connections that I have not only not written about but that I had not previously noticed. Reading the essay was a learning experience! It's a fine contribution.""
--From the foreword by Nicholas Wolterstorff

""In this important book, Nathan Shannon offers a reliable exposition of the themes that unify Nicholas Wolterstorff's rich contribution to philosophical and theological inquiry. But Shannon does more. In explaining Wolterstorff's complex system with admirable clarity, Shannon adds new insights of his own to our understanding of shalom-centered life and thought.""
--Richard Mouw, Professor of Faith and Public Life, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA


Nathan D. Shannon (PhD, VU Amsterdam) is Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology, Torch Trinity Graduate University, Seoul, Korea.