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<!DOCTYPE html><html><head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta content="IE=edge" http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible"> <meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" name="viewport"> <title>About</title> <meta content="" name="description"> <meta content="Keith Ward" name="author"> <meta content="© Keith Ward 2024" name="copyright">  <link href="//cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/font-awesome/6.5.2/css/all.min.css" rel="stylesheet"> <link data-cms-original-href="/favicon.ico" href="/favicon.ico?_cchid=f9fbdcf951e0d630a876202ce574642a" rel="shortcut icon" type="image/x-icon"> <link data-cms-original-href="/favicon.ico" href="/favicon.ico?_cchid=f9fbdcf951e0d630a876202ce574642a" rel="icon" type="image/x-icon"> <link data-cms-original-href="/images/apple-touch-icon.png" href="/images/apple-touch-icon.png?_cchid=06652a51a4deceb3103896cbc4cbec86" rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="57x57"> <link data-cms-original-href="/images/apple-touch-icon-57x57.png" href="/images/apple-touch-icon-57x57.png?_cchid=06652a51a4deceb3103896cbc4cbec86" rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="57x57"> <link data-cms-original-href="/images/apple-touch-icon-72x72.png" href="/images/apple-touch-icon-72x72.png?_cchid=20df757c3ab6f9a134f9cce10f9890e5" rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="72x72"> <link data-cms-original-href="/images/apple-touch-icon-114x114.png" href="/images/apple-touch-icon-114x114.png?_cchid=cd51c82009d2be3ff7103ddc7c23147d" rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="114x114"> <link data-cms-original-href="/images/apple-touch-icon-144x144.png" href="/images/apple-touch-icon-144x144.png?_cchid=2dedb66db2e23646ff339557b630124c" rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="144x144"> <link data-cms-original-href="/assets/icons/manifest.json" href="/assets/icons/manifest.json?_cchid=b58fcfa7628c9205cb11a1b2c3e8f99a" rel="manifest"> <meta content="#ffffff" name="msapplication-TileColor"> <meta content="#ffffff" name="theme-color">  <meta content="" property="og:description"> <meta content="http://www.keithward.org.uk" property="og:url"> <meta content="Keith Ward" property="og:site_name"> <meta content="About" property="og:title"> <meta content="website" property="og:type"> <meta content="http://www.keithward.org.uk/assets/logo.jpg" property="og:image"> <meta content="image/jpg" property="og:image:type"> <meta content="480" property="og:image:width"> <meta content="480" property="og:image:height">  <meta content="summary" name="twitter:card"> <meta content="About" name="twitter:title"> <meta content="" name="twitter:description"> <meta content="http://www.keithward.org.uk/assets/logo.jpg" name="twitter:image"> <meta content="http://www.keithward.org.uk" name="twitter:url">  <link data-cms-original-href="/styles/openbook_style.css" href="/styles/openbook_style.css?_cchid=40ee206755618710bc1626ef9d3be7f2" id="openbook-css" media="all" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <link data-cms-original-href="/styles/elusive/css/elusive-webfont.css" href="/styles/elusive/css/elusive-webfont.css?_cchid=bba6f2f371d994d0f1a75acd48edef6b" id="elusive-style-css" media="all" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <link data-cms-original-href="/styles/font-awesome/css/font-awesome.min.css" href="/styles/font-awesome/css/font-awesome.min.css?_cchid=a24cb572e8b20cd9f97cb9667c54dbc9" id="font-awesome-style-css" media="all" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <link data-cms-original-href="/styles/widget-icon-front.css" href="/styles/widget-icon-front.css?_cchid=bff41ba46eb4fc21f2e6ece77990bde4" id="widget-icon-front-style-css" media="all" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <link data-cms-original-href="/styles/style.css" href="/styles/style.css?_cchid=d2f154c05e88d1a9cdf4027a818050e8" id="bones-stylesheet-css" media="all" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">  <script data-cms-original-src="/scripts/libs/modernizr-custom.js" src="/scripts/libs/modernizr-custom.js?_cchid=cebb248b24dd93efc7e4400792b73cd6" type="text/javascript"></script> <script crossorigin="anonymous" integrity="sha256-kmHvs0B+OpCW5GVHUNjv9rOmY0IvSIRcf7zGUDTDQM8=" src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.7.1.slim.min.js"></script> <script src="//code.jquery.com/jquery-migrate-3.4.1.min.js"></script>  <script async="" src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-134R8765PF"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-134R8765PF'); </script> </head> <body class="about"> <div id="container"> <header class="header navigation" role="banner"> <div class="wrap clearfix" id="inner-header"> <p class="h1" id="logo"><a href="/" rel="nofollow" title="Return home">Keith Ward</a></p> <nav role="navigation"> <ul class="nav top-nav links clearfix" id="menu-mainmenu"> <li class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page"><a href="/">Home</a> </li><li class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page"><a href="/books-all/">Books</a> </li><li class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page"><a href="/articles-in-books/">Articles</a> </li><li class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page current-menu-item current_page_item"><a href="/about/">About</a> </li><li class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page"><a href="/cv/">CV</a> </li><li class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page"><a href="/links/">Links</a> </li><li class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page"><a href="/audio-video/">Audio / Video</a> </li></ul> </nav> </div>  </header>  <div data-cms-content-wrapper="/_layouts/default.html" id="content"> <section data-cms-content-wrapper="/_layouts/page.html" id="content"> <div class="wrap clearfix" id="inner-content"> <div class="eightcol first clearfix" id="main" role="main"> <article class="clearfix post-2 page type-page status-publish hentry" id="post-2" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/BlogPosting" role="article"> <header class="article-header"> <h1 class="page-title" itemprop="headline">About</h1> </header>  <section class="entry-content clearfix" itemprop="articleBody"> <p class="first">There are a number of Keith Wards on the internet, and they are not all me. To identify myself, I propose to call myself ‘Professor Keith Ward’, as I think I am the only one of those.</p> <p>As my CV shows, I have been an academic virtually all my working life, teaching philosophy, theology, and religious studies at various times. So I am an academic, with all the shortcomings that implies. I am interested in intellectual problems, in arguments and theories, and I largely depend on other people for finding out facts.</p> <p>I am, by nature and conviction, an Idealist philosopher, somebody who believes in the supremacy of Spirit or Mind, and who thinks that the material universe is an expression or creation of a Supreme Mind. I see religions as very ambiguous but probably necessary ways of giving humans some awareness of this Supreme Mind. I am a Christian, and became a priest of the Church of England in 1972. But I have an interest in the many diverse ways in which humans have sought spiritual truth, and in trying to understand what these various paths may have to teach.  I think the main task for religious believers today is to ensure that their beliefs are conducive to human flourishing and, so far as is possible, to the flourishing of all sentient beings; to relate ancient religious beliefs to the modern scientific world view; and to see their own faith in a truly global context.</p> <p>I have listed the books I have written under a number of subject-headings. I have put them in chronological order, and given the dates of their publication, so that certain developments of thought may be seen. Some books have been published under different titles, in which case I have listed both titles together. Some books fall under more than one subject-heading, and I have put duplicates in square brackets. Finally, I have printed in bold type one book under each subject-heading which in my view will give a fairly full view of my thoughts. I have also given, in brackets, very short descriptions of the topics each book is supposed to be about.</p> <p><a href="/books-all">Read about my books</a></p> </section>  <footer class="article-footer"> </footer>  </article>  </div>  <div class="sidebar fourcol last clearfix" id="sidebar1" role="complementary"> <div class="widget widget_text" id="text-4">  <h4 class="widgettitle"><i class="font-awesome icon-book" style="padding-right: 10px; vertical-align: inherit;"></i>Recent books</h4> <div class="textwidget"> <p><em>Adventures in Belief: How I Discovered the Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything (Possibly)</em> <br><a href="https://wipfandstock.com/9781666756234/adventures-in-belief/">Cascade</a>, 2022</p> <p><a href="https://wipfandstock.com/9781666756234/adventures-in-belief/" target="new" title="Publisher book details"><img alt="Adventures in Belief book cover" data-cms-original-src="/assets/books/adventures-in-belief.jpg" src="/assets/books/adventures-in-belief.jpg?_cchid=1de63a9d4a58eb8bd883e924e0a343f2"></a></p> <hr> <p><em>My Theology: Personal Idealism</em><br><a href="https://www.dartonlongmantodd.co.uk/titles/2340-9781913657581-my-theology" target="new" title="Publisher book details">Darton, Longman and Todd</a>, 2021</p> <p><a href="https://www.dartonlongmantodd.co.uk/titles/2340-9781913657581-my-theology" target="new" title="Publisher book details"><img alt="My Theology book cover" data-cms-original-src="/assets/books/mytheology.jpg" src="/assets/books/mytheology.jpg?_cchid=9fd9b7a1885d95a97c97d9fd59c27d53"></a></p> </div> </div>  </div>  </div></section> </div> <footer class="footer" role="contentinfo"> <div class="wrap clearfix" id="inner-footer"> <nav role="navigation"> </nav> <p class="source-org copyright">All text and imagery © 2024 Keith Ward.</p> </div>  </footer>  </div>  <script data-cms-original-src="/scripts/scripts.js" src="/scripts/scripts.js?_cchid=c7577d7a98edf4a2d593b66bd462f492" type="text/javascript"></script> </body></html>