Sanctifying evidentialism

In contemporary epistemology of religion, evidentialism has beenincluded in a wider critique of traditional foundationalist theories of rationalbelief. To show the irrelevance of evidentialism, some critics have offeredalternatives to the foundationalist approach, prominent among which is AlvinPlantinga’s ‘warrant as proper function’. But the connection betweenevidentialism and foundationalism has been exaggerated, and criticisms oftraditional foundationalism do not discredit evidentialism in principle.Furthermore, appeals to warranted belief imply that the heart of evidentialism – theproportioning of belief to rational grounds – has not been discredited butassimilated to the reliabilist view of knowledge by expanding the concept ofevidence to include religious experience. In the end, the warrant concept extendsthe reach of evidentialism, thereby enhancing rather than diminishing its relevancefor rational belief