The God Conclusion

Keith Ward
Darton, Longman and Todd, 2009

The chapters in this engaging and well-written book are the revised and expanded Sarum lectures given in 2008 at Salisbury by Professor Ward who was Professor of the History and Philosophy of Religion in the University of London, and Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford. Professor Ward’s aim is to defend the view, attacked by some of the so-called ‘New Atheists’, that philosophy, far from being the enemy of religion, has more often than not maintained a spiritual and non-materialist view of the universe and that most of the greatest thinkers in philosophy, from Plato to Hegel at least, accepted ‘the God conclusion’.

Ward’s aim, then, is to show that belief in God has been expounded by some of the best known philosophers as the most rational view of the world.

Ward examines and critiques positions from Plato to Nietzsche in support of his position. He challenges what he regards a ‘mistaken’ views as well as defending currently ‘unfashionable’ positions in order to demonstrate that belief lies at the very heart of accepting the intelligibility of the universe, of morality and the nature of human existence. He does this in a lively, clear and entertaining way.

One of the most useful chapters is his last on ‘Materialism and its Discontents’ in which he argues that purely materialistic understandings of the universe are a very recent phenomenon and certainly not the ‘spiritual’ view held by the writers whose works he examines. He suggests that materialism can be challenged from a number of viewpoints, notably quantum physics.

The serious student as well as the interested general reader will certainly want to pursue for themselves the issues that Ward raises in this intelligent book which is strongly recommended.

Dr Mervyn Davies, Visiting Scholar, Sarum College

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