Best Selling Books by Keith Ward

Most people agree that Jesus'' parables are about the kingdom of God. But what is that? They seem to have a lot about hell and judgment, but how is that consistent with the Parable of the Prodigal Son and Jesus'' search for "lost sheep"? They speak of the "Son of Man," but who or what is that? Some have thought they predict the end of the world, but could that be a failure to understand biblical language? In a new survey of Jesus'' parables, Keith Ward proposes that they imply a theology of the universal and unlimited love of God, a moral demand to care for the well-being of all living things, a compassion for the poor and rejected of the earth, an open door of repentance that even death cannot close, the offer of new life in the Spirit, and an ultimate goal of universal creative sharing in the life of the cosmic Christ.

Keith Ward--philosopher, ethicist, theologian, Anglican priest, cathedral canon, and book-writing addict--has spent his life thinking about "the big questions" (and, what''s more, getting paid for it!). This philosophical pilgrimage led him from jobs at Glasgow and St. Andrew''s Universities in Scotland, to Cambridge University, then on to King''s College, London, followed by Oxford University (by invitation of the Queen!), before moving back to London at Gresham College, Heythrop College, and Roehampton University. Along the way he became a fellow of the British Academy and of a number of academic institutions, gathering up doctorates from various places, and writing more books than your bookshelf can handle. This sounds awfully dull, but according to Keith Ward, it was great fun, and he experienced all these things with a feeling of slight surprise, and with an irrepressible sense of humour. Having retired, exhausted, at eighty-one, Ward could not resist one more book. This is it--a humorous account of his life and thought, especially to show how he developed his own philosophy of personal idealism. It is both a genuinely amusing account of the life of an English academic and a rather profound account of an anti-materialistic and scientifically informed philosophy.

‘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.

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.

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.

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.

Offers a reflection on a series of ethical problems in the light of what the world''s major faith traditions have to say about them. The author traces the consequences of religious views on morality by considering moral problems such as violence, human genetic modification and ethical concerns around the beginning and ending of human life.

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.

* 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.

While building on the author''s previous book, "Financial Aspects of Marketing," this book is designed to provide marketing managers and students with the financial know-how to maximize the cost effectiveness of their marketing activities.

The ultimate test of marketing investment, and indeed any investment, is whether it creates value for shareholders. But few marketing investments are evaluated from this perspective. Increasingly, boards of directors and city analysts the world over are dissatisfied with this lack of accountability. Cranfield School of Management has been addressing this problem by working with a range of blue-chip companies. They have created a new framework which shows how marketing systematically contributes to shareholder value based on three key questions- • Does the promised market exist? • Will the strategy deliver the market share promised? • Will the market share create shareholder value? This groundbreaking new book explains the principles and practice behind rigorous due diligence in marketing for Marketing and Finance Directors, CEOs, Strategists and MBA students wanting to understand the key drivers of modern business Surely, the time has come for marketing directors to take their rightful place in the boardroom by proving that what they are doing creates shareholder value added? * Connects marketing plans and investment to the valuation of the firm and how it can contribute to increasing shareholder value * Systematic and practical approach useful for both practitioners and students * New paperback edition

This prominent theologian adds his contribution to the authority of Scripture debate An impassioned contribution to the debate about the authority of scripture - how we read the Bible, and how, the author believes, a fundamentalist reading is unsustainable. This book will infuriate many and delight others, and will make a valuable contribution to the debate, which we plan to join with voices from many corners. The book works through a series of Bible passages often cited as ''proof texts'', and explores how they can be read, and how they are used.

Is there a universal concept of God? Do all the great faiths of the world share a vision of the same supreme reality? In an attempt to answer these questions, Keith Ward considers the doctrine of an ultimate reality within five world religions - Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism and Christianity. He studies closely the works of definitive, orthodox writers from each tradition - Sankara, Ramanuja, Asvaghosa, Maimonides, Al-Ghazzali and Aquinas - to build up a series of ''images'' of God, a common core of belief. Ward discovers that while the great religious traditions of the world retain their differences, there are convergences of thought at the deepest level, with a broad similarity of structure in concepts of God. He concludes that a recognition of these beliefs, as well as encouraging a clearer acceptance of the mystery of the divine, might also lead to an increase in understanding and tolerance of other faiths, to the enrichment of one''s own.

A review of a range of natural resources projects prepared during the 1990s by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) suggests that existing practices of economic analysis tend to capture only some of the impacts that such projects typically have. Historically, project analysis at ADB and elsewhere has tended to concentrate on identifying a monetized benefit in excess of 12 percent economic internal rate of return (EIRR) from direct resource use impacts, and simply identifying and describing "nonquantifiable" impacts. With the adoption of the ADB Environment Policy and the growing recognition that it is very often the poorest who suffer most from natural resource depletion and degradation, a case is made that more analytic rigor in capturing as many as possible of the resource impacts of such projects is desirable. This report therefore suggests some specific techniques to strengthen the economic analysis of natural resources projects, including improving the application of the "benefits transfer" method, defining the spatial boundaries of project economic analysis, establishing an appropriate accounting stance for the project, establishing the project''s counterfactual (i.e., without-project) situation, and including the health impacts of such projects. The use of appropriate discount rates for sensitivity analysis and for investment decision making are discussed, and guidance is given on presenting the results of a project analysis and summarizing the poverty reduction impact of natural resource management projects.

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.

First published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

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

Distinguished philosopher Keith Ward here weighs in on what are perhaps the greatest metaphysical quandaries of our time: is the human mind merely an intricate mass of nerve cells and synapses, or is it something more? Are human beings simply accidental results of millions of genetic copying-mistakes and freak accidents of nature, or is there actually something deeper and more sublime at the heart of both material reality and human existence? Using philosophical and metaphysical reflections rather than religious considerations Ward argues, winsomely and intelligently, that human consciousness does in fact transcend our physical bodies. Moreover, he posits, the fact that we are more than matter not only has profound implications for our human worth but also provides clues to the nature, value, and purpose of the cosmos.

The ultimate smartphone is used to bring down the Internet. It''s up to three unprepared teenagers to restore the Internet before the United States collapses into a nightmare of gangs and World War III breaks out.

Continuing Keith Ward''s series on comparative religion, this book deals with religious views of human nature and destiny. The beliefs of six major traditions are presented including Advaita Vedanta and the idea of one Supreme Self.