Flourishing and the Temptations of Epistemic Isolation

Abstract

Religious communities are sites of shared meaning and belonging that foster human flourishing. They can also be sites of contrastive identity, in and through which friends are distinguished from enemies. In fact, cultivating enemies can bind communities, including religious communities, more tightly together. This essay explores how religious communities can serve as sites of parochial altruism and epistemic isolation. In conversation with Lisa Tessman, I contest the notion that flourishing can be enhanced through cultivating enmity and isolation, arguing that these compromise a community’s capacity to seek truth. I look to contemporary U.S. Christian evangelicalism as an example of a religious community that has embraced epistemic isolation, while arguing that evangelicals and other Christians have at their disposal theological resources for resisting the temptations of parochial altruism and embracing inclusive forms of sociality conducive to genuine flourishing.