Keith Ward
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Keith Ward (born 1938) is an English philosopher and theologian. He is a fellow of the
British Academy The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the sa ...
and a
priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...
of the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
. He was a canon of
Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...
, until 2003. Comparative theology and the relationship between science and religion are two of his main topics of interest.


Academic work

Ward was born on 22 August 1938 in
Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden nearby, and close to Hadrian's Wall. Hexham was the administra ...
. He graduated in 1962 with a
Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
degree from the
University of Wales The University of Wales () is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff – the university was the first universit ...
and from 1964 to 1969 was a lecturer in logic at the
University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...
. He earned a
Bachelor of Letters Bachelor of Letters (BLitt or LittB; Latin ' or ') is a second bachelor's degree in which students specialize in an area of study relevant to their own personal, professional, or academic development. This area of study may have been touched on in ...
degree from
Linacre College, Oxford Linacre College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. The college was founded in 1962 and is named after Thomas Linacre (1460–1524), founder of the Royal College of Ph ...
, in 1968. Ward has MA and DD degrees from both
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
and
Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
universities, and an honorary DD from the
University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...
. From 1969 to 1971 he was lecturer in philosophy at the
University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...
. In 1972, he was ordained as a priest in the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
. From 1971 to 1975 he was lecturer in philosophy of religion at the
University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...
. From 1975 to 1983, he was dean of
Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge, colloquially "Tit Hall" ) is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1350, it is th ...
. He was appointed the F. D. Maurice Professor of Moral and Social Theology at the University of London in 1982, professor of history and philosophy of religion at
King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...
in 1985 and
Regius Professor of Divinity The Regius Professorships of Divinity are amongst the oldest professorships at the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. A third chair existed for a period at Trinity College Dublin. The Oxford and Cambridge chairs were founded by ...
at the
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
in 1991, a post from which he retired in 2004. In 1992, Ward was a visiting professor at the
Claremont Graduate University The Claremont Graduate University (CGU) is a private, all-graduate research university in Claremont, California, United States. Founded in 1925, CGU is a member of the Claremont Colleges consortium which includes five undergraduate and two grad ...
in California. In 1993–94, he delivered the prestigious
Gifford Lectures The Gifford Lectures () are an annual series of lectures which were established in 1887 by the will of Adam Gifford, Lord Gifford at the four ancient universities of Scotland: St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh. Their purpose is to "pro ...
at the
University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...
. He was the
Gresham Professor of Divinity The Professor of Divinity at Gresham College, London, gives free educational lectures to the general public. The college was founded for this purpose in 1597, when it created seven professorships; this was later increased to ten. Divinity is one of ...
between 2004 and 2008 at
Gresham College Gresham College is an institution of higher learning located at Barnard's Inn Hall off Holborn in Central London, England that does not accept students or award degrees. It was founded in 1597 under the Will (law), will of Sir Thomas Gresham, ...
, London. Ward is on the council of the
Royal Institute of Philosophy The Royal Institute of Philosophy, founded in 1925, is a charitable organisation that holds and funds lectures and events on philosophical topics. It publishes two journals and offers grant programmes as part of its mission to share philosophica ...
and is a member of the
editorial board The editorial board is a group of editors, writers, and other people who are charged with implementing a publication's approach to editorials and other opinion pieces. The editorials published normally represent the views or goals of the publicat ...
s of ''Religious Studies'', the ''
Journal of Contemporary Religion The ''Journal of Contemporary Religion'' is a triannual peer-reviewed academic journal which covers anthropological, sociological, psychological and philosophical aspects of religion. History and format The journal was established in 1985 as ''R ...
'', ''Studies in Inter-Religious Dialogue'' and ''World Faiths Encounter''. He is a member of the board of governors of the
Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies Oxford () is a cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the oldest university in the English-speaking world; it has buildings in every ...
. He has also been a visiting professor at
Drake University Drake University is a private university in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The University offers over 140 undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional programs in business, education, Legal education, law, and pharmacy. Drake U ...
, Iowa, and at the
University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a Private university, private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Presbyterian Church, although it is now nondenominational, and the campus ...
, Oklahoma.Professor Keith Ward
, Gresham College profile, Accessed 26 January 2007


Focus and beliefs

One of Ward's main focuses is the dialogue between religious traditions, an interest which led him to be joint president of the World Congress of Faiths (WCF) from 1992 to 2001. His work also explores concepts of God and the idea of revelation. He has also written on his opinion of a relationship between science and religion. As an advocate of
theistic evolution Theistic evolution (also known as theistic evolutionism or God-guided evolution), alternatively called evolutionary creationism, is a view that God acts and creates through laws of nature. Here, God is taken as the primary cause while natural cau ...
, he regards
evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...
and Christianity as essentially compatible, a belief he has described in his book ''God, Chance and Necessity'' and which is in contrast to his Oxford colleague
Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biology, evolutionary biologist, zoologist, science communicator and author. He is an Oxford fellow, emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Simonyi Professor for the Publ ...
, a vocal and prominent
atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
. Ward has said that Dawkins' conclusion that there is no God or any purpose in the universe is "naive" and not based on
science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
but on a hatred of religion. Dawkins' strong anti-religious views originate, according to Ward, from earlier encounters with "certain forms of religion which are anti-intellectual and anti-scientific ... and also emotionally pressuring." Ward has described his own Christian faith as follows:
I am a
born-again To be born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelical Christianity, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is d ...
Christian. I can give a precise day when Christ came to me and began to transform my life with his power and love. He did not make me a saint. But he did make me a forgiven sinner, liberated and renewed, touched by divine power and given the immense gift of an intimate sense of the personal presence of God. I have no difficulty in saying that I wholeheartedly accept Jesus as my personal Lord and Saviour.
In the nineteen-seventies, Ward was a champion of evangelical orthodoxy, beloved of Christians of that constituency, a great apologist, preacher, speaker, and defender of a conservative approach to scripture. The turning point for Ward came with the publication of his book, 'A Vision to Pursue' in which he distanced himself from such a conservative approach and adopted a much more critical approach to scripture and a more theologically liberal outlook. He lost many evangelical erstwhile friends and the direction of his writing changed quite dramatically. Ward has criticised modern-day
Christian fundamentalism Christian fundamentalism, also known as fundamental Christianity or fundamentalist Christianity, is a religious movement emphasizing biblical literalism. In its modern form, it began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among British an ...
, most notably in his 2004 book ''What the Bible Really Teaches: A Challenge for Fundamentalists''. He believes that fundamentalists interpret the Bible in implausible ways and pick and choose which of its passages to emphasise to fit pre-existing beliefs. He argues that the Bible must be taken "seriously" but not always "literally" and does not agree with the doctrine of
biblical inerrancy Biblical inerrancy is the belief that the Bible, in its original form, is entirely free from error. The belief in biblical inerrancy is of particular significance within parts of evangelicalism Evangelicalism (), also called evangelic ...
, saying that it is not found in the Bible, elaborating that
There may be discrepancies and errors in the sacred writings, but those truths that God wished to see included in the Scripture, and which are important to our salvation, are placed there without error ... the Bible is not inerrant in detail, but God has ensured that no substantial errors, which mislead us about the nature of salvation, are to be found in Scripture.


Works


Books

Ward is the author of many books on the nature of religion, the philosophy of religion, the Christian faith, religion and science, the Bible and its interpretation, comparative and systematic theology, and ethics and religion. Books on the nature of religion include: *''The Case for Religion'' (2004). Oneworld. *'' Is Religion Dangerous?'' (2006) ; rev. ed. with additional chapter on evolutionary psychology (2010) *''Religion and Human Fulfilment'' (2008). *''Is Religion Irrational?'' (2011) *''Religion in the Modern World'' (2019). Cambridge University Press. Books on the philosophy of religion include: *''The Concept of God'' (1974) *''Holding Fast to God'' (1982) – a critique of ''Taking Leave of God'' by the radical theologian
Don Cupitt Don Cupitt (22 May 1934 – 18 January 2025) was an English philosopher of religion and academic of Christian theology. He had been an Anglican priest and a lecturer in the University of Cambridge, though he was better known as a popular writer ...
*''Rational Theology and the Creativity of God'' (1984) *''Images of Eternity'' (1987) ; reissued as ''Concepts of God'' (1998) *'' God, A Guide for the Perplexed'' (2002) *''The Battle for the Soul'' (1985) . Reissued by BBC Books in 1986. Reissued as ''Defending the Soul'' (1992) and ''In Defence of the Soul'' (1998) *''Why There Almost Certainly Is a God'' (2008) (UK) (US) *''The God Conclusion'' (2009), published in the US as ''God and the Philosophers'' *''More Than Matter: What Humans Really Are'' (2010) *''The Evidence for God: A Case for the Existence of the Spiritual Dimension'' (2014) *''The Christian Idea of God: A Philosophical Foundation for Faith'' (2017) *''Sharing in the Divine Nature'' (2020). Wipf and Stock. Books on the Christian faith include: *''The Christian Way'' (1976) *''A Vision to Pursue'' (1991) *''God, Faith and the New Millennium'' (1998) *''Christianity: A Short Introduction'' (2000) , republished as ''Christianity: A Beginner's Guide'' *''Christianity: A Guide for the Perplexed'' (2007) *''Re-thinking Christianity'' (2007) *''Christ and the Cosmos: A Reformulation of Trinitarian Doctrine'' (2015) Books on religion and science include: *''God, Chance and Necessity'' (1996) *''Pascal's Fire – Scientific Faith and Religious Understanding'' (2006) *''Divine Action: Examining God's Role in an Open and Emergent Universe'' (2008) *''The Big Questions in Science and Religion'' (2008) Books on the Bible and its interpretation include: *''Is Christianity a Historical Religion?'' (1992) * *''The Word of God? The Bible After Modern Scholarship'' (2010) *''The Philosopher and the Gospels'' (2011) *''Love Is His Meaning: Understanding The Teaching Of Jesus'' (2017) *''Parables About Time and Eternity'' (2021) Books on comparative and systematic theology include: *''Religion and Revelation'' (1994) (1993–94)
Gifford Lectures The Gifford Lectures () are an annual series of lectures which were established in 1887 by the will of Adam Gifford, Lord Gifford at the four ancient universities of Scotland: St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh. Their purpose is to "pro ...
*''Religion and Creation'' (1996) *''Religion and Human Nature'' (1998) *''Religion and Community'' (2000) *''Religion and Human Fulfillment'' (2008) Books on ethics and religion include: *''Ethics and Christianity'' (1970) *''Kant's View of Ethics'' (1972) *''The Divine Image'' (1976) *''The Rule of Love'' (1989) *''God, Autonomy, and Morality'' (2013) Other books include: *''Fifty Key Words in Philosophy'' (1968). Lutterworth Press. *''The Promise'' (1980; rev. ed. 2010). SPCK. *''The Living God'' (1984) *''The Turn of the Tide'' (1986) *''What Do We Mean By God?: A Little Book of Guidance'' (2015) *''The Mystery of Christ: Meditations and Prayers'' (2018) *''Confessions of a Recovering Fundamentalist'' (2020)


Multimedia

* Other lectures with transcripts, recorded 2004–2015, are also available on the Gresham College Youtube channel. * ''Philosophy, Science and The God Debate'', a two-DVD set of filmed interviews with Keith Ward,
Alister McGrath Alister Edgar McGrath (; born 1953) is an Irish theologian, Anglican priest, intellectual historian, scientist, Christian apologist, and public intellectual. He currently holds the Andreas Idreos Professorship in Science and Religion in the F ...
and
John Lennox John Carson Lennox (born 7 November 1943) is a mathematician, bioethicist, and Christian apologist originally from Ireland. He has written many books on religion, ethics, the relationship between science and God (like his books, ''Has Scienc ...
, and produced by the Nationwide Christian Trust, Product Code 5055307601776 (November 2011)


See also

*
Boyle Lectures The Boyle Lectures are named after Robert Boyle, a prominent natural philosopher of the 17th century and son of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork. Under the terms of his Will, Robert Boyle endowed a series of lectures or sermons (originally eight ...


References


Further reading

*''Comparative Theology: Essays for Keith Ward'' ed T. W. Bartel (2003) *''By Faith and Reason: The Essential Keith Ward'' eds Wm. Curtis Holtzen and Roberto Sirvent (2012)


External links

*
Keith Ward, Metanexus Senior Fellow
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Keith 1938 births 20th-century Anglican theologians 20th-century British philosophers 20th-century English Anglican priests 20th-century English theologians 21st-century Anglican theologians 21st-century English philosophers 21st-century English Anglican priests 21st-century English theologians Academics of Heythrop College Academics of King's College London Academics of the University of Glasgow Academics of the University of Roehampton Academics of the University of St Andrews Alumni of Linacre College, Oxford Alumni of the University of Wales Analytic philosophers Analytic theologians Anglican philosophers Converts to Anglicanism from atheism or agnosticism Deans of Trinity Hall, Cambridge English Anglican theologians English male non-fiction writers Fellows of Christ Church, Oxford Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of Trinity Hall, Cambridge Living people People from Hexham English philosophers of religion British philosophy academics Academics of Gresham College Regius Professors of Divinity (University of Oxford) Theistic evolutionists Writers about religion and science Writers from Northumberland