Adventures in Belief

Keith Ward is the author of nearly 50 books and is one of the great philosophers of religion of our time, consistently writing with elegance, clarity and wit. In 1986, I found myself in the next-door cottage to Keith and his family on Crete, and I was taken aback and impressed that he had not brought a single book to read – I myself have never been on holiday without a stock of books! In 1992, I invited him to come down to Winchester to meet Fr Bede Griffiths, and I now regret not having recorded the conversation, which began along the lines that ‘my students don’t think you can exist’ – Fr Bede was a Benedictine monk also acknowledged as a Hindu sannyasin. William Rees-Mogg also came to tea with Fr Bede at Rupert Sheldrake’s home, subsequently writing a column for The Times.

Keith’s autobiography has a characteristically self-deprecating subtitle – ‘How I discovered the meaning of life, the universe, and everything (possibly)’. It is the hugely engaging and readable story of his life and thought – he even looks exceptionally alert as ‘a philosophical baby’ in 1938. Readers familiar with his philosophical work will be surprised to learn that he originally trained as a musician and did his national service in the RAF in Bahrain, where he emerged with the commendation (!) ‘In command of printing facilities at Air Force headquarters, Aden.’ Keith was a voracious reader from an early age, passing through phases of reading Rosicrucianism as an adolescent, an encounter with evangelical Christianity, and gravitating eventually to a personalist metaphysics. He achieved a distinction in all the grades of the Associated Board of Music, and only began to study seriously in his last year at school, ‘and suddenly I actually won so many prizes that they had to give some of my prizes to other people.’

While in the RAF, Keith had a transformative experience of spiritual power working within him ‘founded on faith (encounter with the reality of transcendent goodness), love (sharing in the spiritual power greater than my own), and evocative of hope (for the fuller realisation of that power in my life and in the world).’ (p. 18) During his first summer holiday in Cardiff and before switching to philosophy, he gives a hilarious account of working as a conductor on a bus in South Wales, where he could never understand where people wanted to go with lots of place names like Llwnypia and Penrhiwceiber, so he used to issue tickets at random and hope for the best! Throughout the text, there are numerous witty asides and comments (‘Computers may be logical, but they are not reasonable.’ ‘In Oxford debates, as in the British Houses of Parliament, you do not have to listen to the arguments before you vote. You can sit in the bar while the debate is in progress…’) Keith explains his intellectual development along the way as well as the basic arguments of his books. Following a two-year course in theology at Oxford, he subsequently taught at Glasgow, St Andrews, King’s College London, Cambridge and Oxford, where he humorously explains the process of being appointed a Regius Professor: he was asked by the Prime Minister if he could put forward his name to the Queen – until the letter arrived, he had no idea that he was being considered.

Keith has found himself teaching a range of subjects, depending on the particular position or chair he was occupying at the time. As F.D. Maurice Professor of Moral and Social Theology at King’s, London, he became Director of their Centre for Medical Ethics. Here he resisted any appeal to absolute moral rules, advocating a culture of compassion and saying that in cases of moral conflicts, the strongest rule should prevail. He describes himself as relieved when he was able to move over to the chair of the history and philosophy of religion, and he has done a great deal of creative and expansive work not only with respect to Christianity, but also other religions, describing in the course of the book lectures given in various parts of the world. He fully takes into account the rise of the natural sciences, the emergence of a more global awareness, and the great moral and political revolutions of the European enlightenment with its concern for social justice, freedom and responsibility. A number of his colleagues were more dogmatic and less broadminded, which led to interesting exchanges on various university committees. He refers to some who ‘speak as if their views are obviously true and that all sensible people believe them.’

Keith gives a very good summary of Whitehead’s process theology, and sums up his own philosophy of personalist idealism in his final chapter. This is where interested readers will find a much more detailed account in his Sharing in the Divine Nature. His idealism asserts that mind is prior to matter, ‘and that the material universe expresses and realises the nature of a basically mind-like reality.’ For him, the main ideals and demands of any human life are Truth in terms of understanding and wisdom, Beauty as creativity and appreciation, and Goodness as cooperation with and concern for the welfare of others. (p. 128) He postulates that God’s final goal is ‘to realise and hold together a co-operative community of persons united in love.’ Jesus ‘discloses to human beings the nature of Spirit as Love’, while his experience ‘was suffused with the sense of the presence of God, and his actions were empowered by the creative energy of God.’ Truth is not simply about knowledge, but also involves ‘empathetic understanding and practical wisdom.’

Sharing in the Divine Nature engages with many contemporary theologians and their positions, defending his own claim that God is changed through and affected by the cosmic process rather than being impassible and changeless. Keith responds to criticisms of his own views and highlights the undue influence of Plato and Aristotle in Christian thought. He boldly asserts that the possibility of evil lies in God ‘as the source of all possibilities, good and evil, though God positively wills only good.’ (p. 79) For him, the atonement is not vicarious, but represents ‘God’s passionate involvement in the tragic history of a world trapped in selfishness, greed, and hatred.’ He continues: ‘God seeks to lead that world back to union with the wisdom, creativity, and love that is the true source and goal of all finite beings.’ (p. 127) His conclusion reiterates that of the other book, providing in my view a substantial metaphysics of moral demand and purpose by providing a foundation for living by the eternal values described above. To engage with Keith’s nuanced critical mind and encyclopaedic philosophical knowledge is a disciplined way of testing and developing one’s own philosophy of life.