Ostler received his BA in philosophy and BS in psychobiology in 1981 from Brigham Young University (BYU).
Ostler and his wife completed a Spanish-speaking mission in Utah where he taught English and gave legal advice to immigrants and non-English speakers.
He elucidates and exegetes several scriptural passages based upon self-deception as the underlying cause of the human condition of alienation.
Ostler elucidates a "Compassion Theory of Atonement" and describes how free acceptance of Christ's gracious gift of divine light leads to interpersonal healing and overcoming alienation.
He presents two arguments that creation ex nihilo (out of nothing) is logically incompatible with both libertarian and compatibilist views of free will.
Ostler has published a short volume (Fire on the Horizon: A Meditation on the Endowment and Love of Atonement) relying on continental philosophers in the existential tradition Martin Buber and Søren Kierkegaard to discuss what he calls "revelatory discourse" and present an ethic of such discourse.
Ostler plans a fifth volume in the Exploring Mormon Thought series to address spiritual knowledge and epistemology as well as the mind-body problem and consciousness within the Latter-day Saint tradition.
Regarding consciousness, Ostler accepts a form of non-dualist emergentism consistent with Latter-day Saint commitments regarding free-will and God’s power.
[citation needed] 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.