Religion and Creation

by Keith Ward

In Religion and Creation, the author explores the idea of a creator God in the work of twentieth-century writers from Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity. He develops a positive concept of God which stresses God's dynamic and responsive relation to the temporal structure of the universe, and the importance of that structure to the self-expression of the divine being. Professor Ward goes on to present a Trinitarian doctrine of creation, drawing inspiration from a wider set of theistic traditions and recent discussions in physics in the realm of cosmology.

360 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Keith Ward was formerly the Regius Professor of Divinity and Head of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oxford. A priest of the Church of England and Canon of Christ Church, Oxford, he holds Doctor of Divinity degrees from Cambridge and Oxford Universities. He has lectured at the universities of Glasgow, St. Andrew's and Cambridge.

Reviews

[Stephen Bardle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the strongest book from Ward's "Religion and..." series of academic monographs. Ward's comparative analysis of religion can at times seems forced in the other works, but creation and creativity is a strong attribute linking both the Abrahamic and Eastern religions which he discusses. It is one of the finest and most original works of theology I have ever read.

The opening discussions of creativity as a necessary feature of God sets the scene for the more in-depth analysis of the second half of the book. Ward selects like-minded theologians who all reject a Platonic understanding of religion; this is not surprising since Ward is an anti-Platonist in the spirit of Hegel, and his selection of Heschel is especially understandable since like Ward, Heschel was generally more interested in spirituality than the critical study of texts and had left-wing political sympathies. Fortunately Ward keeps out of politics in this book; the mixing of the language of the sacred and the profane recurs in many of his books and it is a major flaw which his Oxford contemporary Lesnek Kolakowski continually warned should be avoided in religious discourse. This tendency reaches a critical level in the last volume of the series, "Religion and Human Flourishing", which is a poor contribution to an otherwise outstanding series of books.

Like all Ward's books, the prose is clearly written, and he remains probably the most enjoyable to read of contemporary Anglican writers (he is especially refreshing after having read the latest tome from Miles Hollingdale). There seems to be no-sign of letting up in his almost superhuman record of publication and I'm sure he will attract new readers, although he should avoid forcing sociological or political arguments onto his readers.

[Nat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for research on a paper for my class on Religious Ethics and the Environment, but it ended up being more of a personal-interest-read. I had some bias issues with the author, but overall really enjoyed the thorough, text based research and cohesion. I felt there could have been a bit more Eastern religious influence within, but that would've changed the book greatly and made it a lot longer! Very willing to face problems in an un-apologetic way that is refreshing and clear.