WARD, Keith 1938-

(John Stephen Keith Ward)

PERSONAL: Born August 22, 1938, in Hexham, Northumberland, England; son of John (a director) and Evelyn (Simpson) Ward; married Marian Trotman (a teacher), June 22, 1963; children: Fiona Caroline, Alun James Kendall. Education: University of Wales, B.A., 1962; Linacre College, Oxford, B.Litt., 1967. Religion: Anglican.

ADDRESSES: Office—Christ Church, Oxford University, Oxford OX1 1DP, England. E-mail—keith.ward@theology.ox.ac.uk.

CAREER: University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, lecturer in logic, 1964–66, lecturer in moral philosophy, 1966–69; University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Scotland, lecturer in moral philosophy, 1969–71; University of London, King's College, London, England, lecturer in philosophy of religion, 1971–74; Cambridge University, Trinity Hall, Cambridge, England, dean, 1974–82; University of London, King's College, professor of moral theology, 1982–86, professor of philosophy of religion, 1986–91; University of Oxford, Oxford, England, Regius Professor of Divinity, 1991–2003; Gresham College, London, England, professor of Divinity, 2003–. Military service: Royal Air Force, 1956–58; served in Strategic Air Command.

WRITINGS:

Fifty Key Words in Philosophy, John Knox (Louisville, KY), 1969.

Ethics and Christianity, Humanities Press (New York, NY), 1970.

The Development of Kant's View of Ethics, Humanities Press (New York, NY), 1972.

The Concept God, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1975.

The Christian Way, S.P.C.K. (London, England), 1976.

The Divine Image: The Foundations of Christian Morality, S.P.C.K. (London, England), 1976.

Rational Theology and the Creativity of God, Pilgrim Press (Cleveland, OH), 1982.

Holding Fast to God, S.P.C.K. (London, England), 1983.

The Living God, S.P.C.K. (London, England), 1984.

Images of Eternity, Darton, Longman, and Todd (London, England), 1988.

The Rule of Love, Darton, Longman, and Todd (London, England), 1989.

Divine Action, Collins (London, England), 1990.

A Vision to Pursue, SCM Publications (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 1991.

Defending the Soul, Oneworld (Chatham, NY), 1992.

Religion and Revelation: A Theology of Revelation in the World's Religions, Clarendon Press (Oxford, England), Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1994.

Religion and Creation, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1996.

God, Chance and Necessity, Oneworld (Chatham, NY), 1996.

God, Faith and the New Millennium: Christian Belief in an Age of Science, Oneworld (Rockport, MA), 1998.

Religion and Human Nature, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1998.

Religion and Community, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2000.

Christianity: A Short Introduction, Oneworld (Chatham, NY), 2000.

God: A Guide for the Perplexed, Oneworld (Oxford, England), 2002.

What the Bible Really Teaches: A Challenge for Fundamentalists, S.P.C.K. (London, England), 2004, published as What the Bible Really Teaches: Resurrection, Salvation, the Second Coming, and Eternal Life, Crossroad (New York, NY), 2005.

The Case for Religion, Oneworld (Oxford, England), 2004

Is There a Common Core of Religious Experience?, Religious Experience Research Centre, University of Wales (Lampeter, Wales), 2005.

Pascal's Fire, Oneworld (Chatham, NY), 2006.

Contributor of articles to academic journals.

SIDELIGHTS: Keith Ward is an Anglican priest who, while believing in the truth of Christianity, maintains that other faiths also contain fundamental truths and wisdom. In Ward's view, religious truth lies in the personal spiritual experience. Although he freely states that no one religion can claim to hold the key to all universal truths, he is equally firm in his belief that religion is an important and positive part of the human experience. In his book The Case for Religion, Ward presents his ideas about the role of religion in human lives and predicts a future in which religions are less concerned with metaphysical or political precepts and more focused on the transcendental experience. He examines what key figures in the fields of psychology, sociology and anthropology have said about religious practice and its effects, and he gives a history of the major religions of the world and the ways in which religion has affected historical and critical thought.

Reviewing the book for Spectator, A.N. Wilson stated that Ward is overly optimistic in his belief that religion could be a positive tool of transformation in the world. Wilson expressed the belief that religious people generally believe they possess the only real version of the truth, and they "will take up pens, Bibles, swords, guns and bombs to prove it." Nevertheless, Wilson praised Ward for his ability to convincingly argue that "human nature would be poorer if the religious impulse were denied. He puts into more intelligent words than most of us could muster what it is which would be lost if we all became materialist atheists." Ward does acknowledge the destructive actions attributable to churches throughout the centuries, pointed out a Publishers Weekly reviewer, but the author concludes that "religion is too persistent, pervasive, positive and profound to be merely foolish."

Ward took a lighter tone in his book God: A Guide for the Perplexed. The subject matter is still substantive, including a brief analysis of how God has been portrayed by Western thinkers from Homer and Descartes to modern writers such as Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche. He touches on the nature of evil and the trouble with overly literal interpretations of the Bible. Yet he does all that "with humor and skill, deftly and accurately," according to Steve Young in the Library Journal. Booklist contributor Steven Schroeder also found it an "excellent" introduction to the philosophy of religion, presented "with elegance and surprising simplicity."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 1, 1997, Bryce Christensen, review of God, Chance and Necessity, p. 1071; May 1, 2002, Steven Schroeder, review of God: A Guide for the Perplexed, p. 1488.

Journal of Religion, October, 1998, David A. Pailin, review of Religion and Creation, p. 644; April, 1999, Anna Case-Winters, review of God, Chance and Necessity, p. 319.

Journal of Theological Studies, April, 1998, Brian Hebblethwaite, review of Religion and Creation, p. 506.

Library Journal, February, 15, 1997, review of God, Chance and Necessity, p. 139; May 15, 2000, review of Christianity: A Short Introduction, p. 99; May 15, 2002, Steve Young, review of God, p. 103.

Publishers Weekly, March 10, 1997, review of God, Chance and Necessity, p. 63; April 29, 2002, review of God, p. 62; March 29, 2004, review of The Case for Religion, p. 59.

Religious Studies, September, 1996, Julius Lipner, review of Religion and Revelation: A Theology of Revelation in the World's Religions, p. 417; September, 1997, review of Religion and Creation, p. 358.

Sciences, March, 1999, Margaret Wertheim, review of God, Faith, and the New Millennium: Christian Belief in an Age of Science, p. 38.

Spectator, April 3, 2004, A.N. Wilson, review of A Case for Religion, p. 48; September 11, 2004, Mary Wakefield, interview with Keith Ward, p. 22.

Theological Studies, September, 1995, review of Religion and Revelation, p. 592; September, 1997, Frank R. Haig, review of God, Chance and Necessity, p. 584; December, 1997, David J. Casey, review of Religion and Creation, p. 733.

ONLINE

Oxford University Web site, http://resources.theology.ox.ac.uk/ (October 10, 2005), biographical information about Keith Ward.