New Releases by Keith Ward

Christianity is not the only true faith. The Bible is not inerrant. Jesus is not God walking on the earth. Hell is not eternal. What’s left? Everything important. The ultimate reality is cosmic mind, which generates the physical universe. Its goal is to liberate all beings from evil and suffering and to unite all beings to itself. God sets the goal, Jesus shows and attains the goal, and the Spirit guides the way to the goal. This is a spiritual path to God, to which the Bible testifies, from a specific cultural background, the Abrahamic way.

A short, definitive account of Keith Ward''s theology, based on the philosophy of personal idealism, this book records his views about God, revelation, the kingdom of God, life after death, the incarnation, atonement, and the Trinity. In summary, it is a concise and clear account of most central Christian doctrines, formed in the light of modern science and Idealist philosophy. In the My Theology series, the world''s leading Christian thinkers explain some of the principal tenets of their theological beliefs in concise, pocket-sized books.

Is the mind just a by-product of the brain? Or is mind the fundamental reality, which creates matter? This book is a defense of mind as prior to matter. It is a philosophical work, written in an accessible style, which explains idealism as the teaching of most classical philosophers, and as most consistent with modern science.

A defense of the New Testament view that all things are to be united in Christ, which entails that the ultimate destiny of the universe, and of all that is in it, is to be united in God. Keith Ward argues that this conflicts with classical ideas of God as simple, impassible, and changeless—ideas that many modern theologians espouse, and which Ward subjects to careful and critical scrutiny. He defends the claim that the cosmos contributes something substantial to—and in that way changes—the divine nature, and the cosmos is destined to manifest and express the essential creativity and relationality of a God of beatific, agapic, redemptive, and unitive love.

Can theology be expounded almost entirely in jokes? This is an attempt to do so. But it is also a record of how one person recovered from fundamentalism, and found a different, more positive spirituality within Christian faith. It seeks to speak to those who only know an exclusive and dogmatic version of Christianity, and who feel the need for something more universally compassionate and friendly to informed scientific thought. Ward argues that we need to escape from the image of a vindictive, wrathful, judgmental God, who saves just a few people from endless torture for no obvious reason. He proposes instead a view of the universe as evolving towards a goal, guided by a supreme cosmic consciousness, which manifests its nature in this historical process. Jesus is the human image of this consciousness, an image of universal self-giving love and a foreshadowing of the transformation of human lives by their union with the divine. The jokes are there because Christian faith should be really joyful, hopeful, and positive good news for everyone--that there is a spiritual basis and goal of the universe which wills everyone without exception to share in its unlimited wisdom and love.

Originally published in 1972, The Development of Kant''s Ethics is Keith Ward''s exceptional analysis of the history of Kant''s ideas on ethics and the emergence of Kantian ethics as a mature theory. Through a thorough overview of all of Kant''s texts written between 1755 and 1804, Ward puts forth the argument that the critical literature surrounding Kantian ethics has underplayed Kant''s concern with the role of happiness in relation to morality and the significance of the tradition of natural law for the development of Kantian ethics. Covering all of Kant''s extant works from Nova Dilucidatio to Opus Postumum, Ward traces the progression of Kant''s views from his early ideas on Rationalism to Moral Sense Theory and the development of Critical Philosophy, and finally to his later-life writings on the relationship between morality and faith. Through careful analysis of each of Kant''s works, Ward details the scientific, philosophical, and theological ideas that influenced Kant—such as the works of Emanuel Swedenborg—and demonstrates the critical role these influences played in the development of Kantian ethics. Offering a rare and extraordinary historical view of some of Kant''s most important contributions to philosophy, this is an invaluable resource for scholars engaged in questions on the origins and influences of Kant''s work, and for students seeking a thorough understanding of Kant''s historical and philosophical contexts.

Proposes an original approach to religious diversity, from religious pluralism and inter-faith dialogue to new existential challenges.

"Following a horrifying event, Pastor Leon Rivkin feels God calling him out of his inner-city Baltimore church into a rich white suburb. With his new church, he''s determined to show the people there how empty their lives of wealth and privilege really are. Problem is, people don''t like hearing that. Especially from a black man. The church struggles at first, being mostly ignored. But Pastor Leon isn''t a man to be ignored. Then something happens. Young folks start showing up, captivated by Pastor Leon''s dynamic preaching. Church attendance grows. The Internet and social media spread his message. As the church grows, so does its threat to certain communities. And threats must be eliminated. A campaign of intimidation is launched to force Pastor Leon out and kill his increasingly-effective church. The pressure mounts, as dark forces grow desperate to stop the powerful black man in their midst. But they don''t know who they''re up against"--Back cover.

‘Keith Ward . . . makes complex matters readily accessible.’ Rowan Williams At the heart of Christian faith lies a vision of Christ present at the beginning of creation, in the crucified and risen Jesus, and at the end of all things. This vision retains its ancient power and gains new depth as it is reshaped in the light of our advanced understanding of a vast and evolving cosmos. To help us form a truly contemporary Christian spirituality, Keith Ward, writing in our own time and place (rather than the fourteenth century of Julian of Norwich or the twentieth of Thomas Merton), offers a set of reflections on what he believes to be the unique and life-transforming revelation of God in the person of Jesus Christ. And as we explore the spiritual truths relating to this mystery expressed in the Gospels, meditation leads naturally to prayer.

Language about God is something like the language of poetry—intended not to increase our information about the world—we know facts about the world already—but to evoke in us a certain attitude or way of looking at things or feeling about things. What sort of view of the world, then, is language about God trying to convey? Keith Ward suggests it is that the world is an expression of a reality beyond it. In this book, he unpacks the meaning of the word God and explains why we need to get rid of the crude and unhelpful assumptions that still abound. This is a book for all who are curious about how God, and God’s actions, can be understood today.

In this book, eminent theologian Keith Ward takes a fresh look at the ancient philosophy of Idealism, connects it with findings in modern science, and shows that a combination of good science, good philosophy, and a passion for truth and goodness, can underpin religious faith. Going back to first principles, he argues for the Idealist view that all knowledge begins with experience. Critically examining the idealism of Plato, Kant, and Hegel, Ward shows how this philosophy is strengthened by a knowledge of modern physics, and how it can lead to a new and vivid presentation of Christian faith. A work of philosophical rigour that makes clear the rational nature of belief in God, this book challenges the easy assumptions of materialism and the relativity of truth that undermine both science and religion. Ward writes in an accessible and readable style that gives new life and practical usefulness to idealist philosophy.

Jesus’ teaching has changed the world. Yet his sayings can often seem cryptic and hard to understand. In Love Is His Meaning, Keith Ward explores the various figures of speech and images that Jesus used, and finds they are all ways of expressing and evoking the self-giving love of God, manifested supremely in Jesus’ life. They communicate spiritual truths, often not in a literal but in a poetic way. They encourage us to take our own moral decisions with sensitivity and care for others. They show that God’s love will never abandon anyone, and that it extends to everyone in the world without exception. And they promise a fulfilment of our hopes for a just and peaceable world that surpasses anything we might describe or imagine. Putting aside literalist, authoritarian, legalistic, judgemental and divisive presentations of Jesus’ teachings, the author shows that what remains is the gospel of a divine love – a love stronger than death, and the only power that can and will redeem our disordered world.

The concept of the ''social Trinity'', which posits three conscious subjects in God, radically revised the traditional Christian idea of the Creator. It promoted a view of God as a passionate, creative and responsive source of all being. Keith Ward argues that social Trinitarian thinking threatens the unity of God, however, and that this new view of God does not require a ''social'' component. Expanding on the work of theologians such as Barth and Rahner, who insisted that there was only one mind of God, Ward offers a coherent, wholly monotheistic interpretation of the Trinity. Christ and the Cosmos analyses theistic belief in a scientific context, demonstrating the necessity of cosmology to theological thinking that is often overly myopic and anthropomorphic. This important volume will benefit those who seek to understand what the Trinity is, why it matters and how it fits into a scientific account of the universe.

A brilliant and accessible rebuttal of The God Delusion from one of Christianity''s most incisive thinkers In this, his first new book since the best-selling God: A Guide for the Perplexed (Oneworld, 2002), Keith Ward turns his attention to the role - and the validity of religion over the centuries and in the world today. His erudite yet informative and factual narrative outlines the various attempts that have been made throughout history to explain religion, including the anthropological, psychological, sociological and philosophical theories of key thinkers from Immanuel Kant to Sigmund Freud. Adopting a comparative approach, the book covers all the religious traditions from West and East alike, concluding in a compelling manner that not only are the world faiths much more than a series of theoretical perspectives, but that, in the face of discord and violence, religious understanding retains more resonance than ever before within our global community.

Does being a Christian in the modern scientific age require intellectual suicide? What future for Christianity in the Third Millennium? In God, Faith and the New Millennium Keith Ward has produced a powerful and upbeat study of Christian belief that tackles questions such as these head on. In what he describes as a summary of his life’s work on Christianity, religion and science, Ward’s new and positive interpretation presents a Christian faith in harmony with the scientific worldview while remaining true to its traditions. This is a cutting-edge study that will provoke and inspire every Christian and anyone interested in the debate on the role of faith in the modern world. Through his examination of key issues such as Creation, evolution and the divine purpose, Ward demonstrates that there is a ‘natural fit’ between the scientific worldview and mainstream Christian beliefs – Christian faith gives insight into the meaning and purpose of the universe, the physical structure of which modern science has marvellously discovered.

Atheism and accidentalism are increasingly taken for granted as default positions, as if they have been proven by scientists. However, writes Keith Ward, there is a huge amount of evidence for the reality of a spiritual dimension. There is level of being that is deeper than the physical universe, that has purpose and value, and we humans can sometimes feel it and find in it resources of strength, hope, and inspiration. There is something like mind or consciousness at the heart of reality. Through an exploration of six areas of human experience - the arts, morality, philosophy, science, religion and personal experience - Ward demonstrates the existence of more than simply physical facts. His evidence builds to an impressive argument for a ''sense for the spiritual dimension'' that is beyond and yet expressed in and through physical facts.

This title is the first in a series that employs a simple and effective concept to illustrate and describe the multiplicity of equipment and weapons systems used on the ground during World War II. Whilst many books have described such weapons and war matériel, Keith Ward''s unique abilities as a 3D technical artist bring these items to life, illustrated throughout in full color. Here, in a single concise volume, are all major and many minor and less well-known items of German weaponry and equipment, rendered precisely, including detailed cutaways showing their internal workings, information which is often absent from other publications. Technical details are also provided. This is an essential volume for anyone interested in the German Armed Forces of World War II.

Can morality exist separately from a belief in God? From Descartes to Dostoevsky, the debate concerning the relationship between religion and morality has raged for centuries. Can there be a solid foundation for ethics without God? Or would we be consigned to a relativist morality, where "the good" is just a product of societal values or natural selection? In this landmark work, acclaimed philosopher and theologian, Keith Ward, presents a revolutionary new contribution to this discussion. Reflecting on the work of philosophers old and new - including Hume, Mill, Murdoch and Moore - he argues that our conception of morality intrinsically depends on our model of reality. And if we want a meaningful, objective ethics, then only God can provide the solid metaphysical foundations.Carefully structured and written in Ward''s famously clear prose, Morality, Autonomy and God will be an invaluable primer for students of theology or philosophy of religion. But more than that, this strident and controversial book is guaranteed to shape philosophical opinion for years to come.

The Christian faith is often charged with being outmoded and anachronistic. A monolithic institution rooted in the past, many critics have claimed that it lacks the resources to adapt to modern society''s needs and advances. In "Rethinking Christianity", Keith Ward argues persuasively that this view is not only uncharitable, but refuted by historical evidence. Mapping the evolution of six major beliefs, from the Hellenistic restatement to the challenged of evolutionary theory, Ward demonstrates that Christianity has always been expressed in constantly changing ways in response to new knowledge and understandings of the world. Controversial, liberal, and confronting the principal questions facing Christianity today, Ward uses this basis to support the construction of his own ground-breaking theology: a ''systematic theology'' for the post-scientific age.

Groundbreaking, ingenious and devastatingly clear, Keith Ward’s Pascal’s Fire is guaranteed to reignite the timeless dispute of whether scientific advancement threatens religious belief. Turning the conventional debate on its head, Ward suggests that the existence of God is actually the best starting-point for a number of the most famous scientific positions. From quantum physics to evolution, the suggestion of an ‘ultimate mind’ adds a new dimension to scientific thought, enhancing rather than detracting from its greatest achievements. Also responding to potential criticisms that his ultimate mind is unrecognisable as the God of Abraham, Ward examines our most fundamental beliefs in a new light. Emerging with a conception of God that is consistent with both science and the world’s major faiths, this ambitious project will fascinate believers and sceptics alike.

Written for marketing and finance directors, CEOs, and strategists, as well as MBA students, this practical book explains the principles and practice behind rigorous due diligence in marketing. It connects marketing plans and investment to the valuation of the firm and how it can contribute to increasing stakeholder value. Completely revised and updated throughout, the Second Edition features new case examples as well as a completely new first chapter containing the results of new research into risk and marketing strategies amongst Finance Directors and Chief Marketing Officers.

First published in 1989. Financial Aspects of Marketing is designed particularly for students taking the Part 2 Certificate paper in Financial and Management Accounting of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. The increased emphasis on marketing issues of the new paper and the use of financial information as an aid to decision making provide students with the ability to be ''financially literate''. Practical applications of financial concepts and techniques and their relevance to the marketing function are demonstrated. Contents include Introduction and overview: Analysis -establishing the starting point; Planning - setting objectives and strategies: Control - monitoring achievements: Applications and examples.

The quality of service which could be delivered by the U.S. healthcare system is in contrast with the customer''s perceived expectations and reported levels of satisfaction. Due to the uncertainty about stakeholder views and the anomaly of the third-party payment system, healthcare service providers are accused of not relating to their patients. This article examines how -- by using an analytical framework -- a healthcare provider can develop competitive advantage through implementing electronic customer relationship management (e-CRM) systems that create perceived customer value for its patients. This framework allows the firm to systematically look at points where the customer interacts with specific organizational assets. By examining individual interactions and understanding how the customer perceives an interaction, the firm may then develop specific e-CRM systems to maximize the value a customer may realize through that interaction. Due to the in-depth and lengthy nature of most patient relationships with a healthcare provider, the healthcare industry is used as an example of how this framework can be used by all service providers.

Disaster response and recovery are crucial phases of disaster management. Decision-support systems used in disaster management must cope with the complexity and uncertainty involved with the scheduling and assignment of differentially-skilled personnel and assets to specific tasks. Operational constraints -- such as workload and labor requirements, precedence constraints, resource availability, and critical deadlines among others -- make timely and appropriate task assignment and sequencing difficult. Failure to assign personnel in an efficient and effective manner may result in unnecessary fatalities and significant additional loss of property as well as damaging the reputation of the disaster management organizations. Therefore, this paper proposes a decision-support system for disaster response and recovery using hybrid meta-heuristics.

Based on literature review, we derive a set of dimensions that influence patient-perceived health care quality. Utilizing outpatient survey data from 222 different physicians, we identified six underlying quality factors and classified them according to the derived dimensions. These quality factors explain approximately 51 percent of the variation in overall patient-perceived health care quality.

* Challenging and provocative book * Shows how management accounting techniques can be integrated into the strategic decision making process * Extensive use of practical examples from a variety of contexts.An introduction to business strategy for management accountants, financial accountants or managers with an accounting orientation. The book places management accounting clearly within the context of strategic management of the business. Offers qualified accountants a sound introduction to strategic management, and with practical examples and mini-cases provided throughout, this book is comprehensive yet concise. Keith Ward addresses strategic management accounting as a continuous process of analysis, planning and control. Management accounting is about supplying the right information to the right people at the right time, and this can only be expressed in the context of the business strategy and strategic plan. The implementation of appropriate management accounting systems to complement different strategies is discussed in detail. Applications and examples include multinational organizations, non-profit organizations and varying organizational structures. Finally the author covers methods of using management accounting for strategic advantage.

Corporate Financial Strategy is a practical guide to understanding the elements of financial strategy, and how directors and advisors can add value by tailoring financial strategy to complement corporate strategy. The book sets out appropriate financial strategies over the key milestones in a company''s life. It discusses the practicalities behind transactions such as: * Raising venture capital * Flotation on a stock exchange * Making acquisitions * Management buyouts * Financial restructuring In explaining financing structures, the book sets out the basic building blocks of any financial instrument to enable the reader to appreciate innovations in the field. It also illustrates how and why different types of security might be used. The second edition of this very popular textbook brings to bear the considerable commercial and academic experience of its co-authors. Throughout, the book offers a range of up-to-date case studies, abundant diagrams and figures, and frequent ''Working Insight'' sections to provide practical illumination of the theory. This book will enable you to understand the potential value added by the best financial strategy, while fully demonstrating the working role of financial strategy within an overall corporate strategy. An excellent practical guide for senior financial managers, strategic-decision makers and qualified accountants, the text is also invaluable as a clear-sighted and thorough companion for students and senior executives on finance courses (including MBA, MSc and DMS).

The first dedicated Keith Ward reader - contains original writings by Ward.

The question of what it is to be a human person is the biggest intellectual question of our day.'' Keith Ward has taught philosophy and theology in British universities for the past 40 years, and he is now weighing in on a major intellectual battle: whether human persons are purely materialistic - nothing but matter - or whether there is another, deeply valuable part of us, which transcends our bodies in nature and moral worth: the soul. For centuries philosophers have debated the question, but the battle has taken the limelight through the works of the New Atheists. In this book Professor Ward guides the reader through a panoply of thinkers and traditions, arguing that there is more to humanity than bodies. In fact, he argues, there is more to the entire universe than the naked eye perceives. (And contrary to the New Atheist assertions, there are good philosophical arguments to back this up!)

Many commentators today claim that religion is dangerous and harmful. In addressing this question, Keith Ward begins by defining what religion actually is and how most human harm has been caused. He then looks at why people say that religion is dangerous, focusing particularly on religious wars and conflicts and on specific attacks on religion, such as the claims that God is wrathful, that religion is intolerant, that religious morality is primitive and cruel. Keith Ward argues that religion produces great good - for example, in terms of hospitals, the abolition of slavery, great art and music, moral heroism, and philosophy and science. Religion, he concludes, is the best rational basis for morality.