Background
Ostler was born in 1957 in Murray, Utah. Ostler received his B.A. in philosophy and B.S. in psychobiology in 1981 from Brigham Young University (BYU). He received his J.D. as a William Leary Scholar from the University of Utah in 1985. In each of his these degrees, Ostler graduated with honors. He is a practicing attorney specializing in education law, commercial litigation; franchise law and litigation, construction law and litigation, property and development law and litigation educational law, employment law and intellectual property.
Ostler has published widely on Mormon philosophy in journals such as Religious Studies, International Journal for the Philosophy of Religion, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, BYU Studies and the FARMS Review of Books. He is best known for his award winning and groundbreaking four volume series entitled Exploring Mormon Thought. The first volume addresses the attributes of God from a Mormon perspective. Ostler argues that God cannot know what acts a person will freely do in the future. The first volume also expounds a Mormon Christology or theory of Christ as both fully human and fully divine at once. The second volume addresses Mormon soteriology or theory of salvation. The third volume addresses the relation of the Israelite council of gods, the early Christian view of the Godhead and the angel of Yahweh, and finally analyzes the Mormon view of the Godhead as a social trinity that reconciles these views. The fourth volume (due to be published in 2012) addresses the interpersonal symbolism of the endowment received in Mormon temples, an epistemology of spiritual or testimony experiences in the Mormon tradition and the problem of evil. Ostler presents three different approaches to theodicy (explanation of why God allows evils) based upon three very different views of God's relation to the natural universe in Mormon thought -- a naturalistic theodicy, a process theodicy and a Plan of Atonement theodicy.
Ostler accepts the Book of Mormon as an actual historical account, but as edited and expanded in light of Joseph Smith's vocabulary and capacity for expression within his world view. He argues that it is a modern expansion of an ancient document. Because Ostler adopts the Expansion Theory, he affirms that the Book of Mormon was translated through the gift of God and reflects a revelation of the content of an ancient source though we have access only to its modern translation.
Ostler currently practices in Salt Lake City.
Read more about this topic: Blake Ostler
Famous quotes containing the word background:
“Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“In the true sense one’s native land, with its background of tradition, early impressions, reminiscences and other things dear to one, is not enough to make sensitive human beings feel at home.”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)
“I had many problems in my conduct of the office being contrasted with President Kennedy’s conduct in the office, with my manner of dealing with things and his manner, with my accent and his accent, with my background and his background. He was a great public hero, and anything I did that someone didn’t approve of, they would always feel that President Kennedy wouldn’t have done that.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)