‘The Unexamined Life is not worth living’. This statement, attributed to Socrates, has been a guiding principle of my life. It has always seemed to me that the search for the true values and purposes of human life, if any could be found, was of ultimate importance.
I have been lucky enough to spend my working life in British Universities teaching philosophy, which I see as such a search. This led me to study world religions, which offer various approaches to the search.
I have taught in seven universities, two major posts being Professor of the History and Philosophy of Religion at King’s College, London University and Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford University. This has given me the opportunity to learn much about many philosophical and religious movements.
I am also ordained as a minister of the Episcopal (Anglican) Church, so I do have a particular religious belief. This does not mean that I reject all other beliefs. On the contrary, I have found in many religions valuable guidance for the human search for meaning, and I have written many books exploring what can be found of great value – though unfortunately also some things that can be harmful - in the religious and philosophical systems of the world.
I have compiled a list of all the books I have written, in chronological order. Between them, they cover eight different, but related, topics.
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1. Expositions of Personal Idealism. This is the view that mind or conscious experience is the basis of all human knowledge, and of reality itself. A key text here is ‘The Priority of Mind’.
2. The idea of God, as the supreme mind, knowing all possible and actual things, the source of all values, and a creative and responsive intelligence. Its purpose is the actualisation of a rich and diverse set of values, and a dynamic relation to a universe of finite creative and autonomous persons. Through a long evolutionary process of struggle and endeavour, the aim is that such persons will ultimately achieve conscious union with the supreme mind. ‘The Christian Idea of God’ sets out this view.
3. The relation of morality and God – there can certainly be morality without God, but God grounds a morality which is objectively demanding, enabling, forgiving, and whose goals are assured of achievement. ‘The Development of Kant’s View of Ethics’ (the study of Kant helped me to form my view) and ‘Ethics and Christianity’ are key texts.
4. The exposition of a systematic Christian theology, defending the ideas of Creation, the Trinity, the Incarnation, Atonement, and Eschatology, but using new scientific knowledge and the philosophy of Idealism to build an original system. ‘Spirituality and Christian Belief’ gives a short and non-technical outline, while ‘Karl Barth On Religion: a Critique’ is a more technical defence of a liberal theology against his criticisms
5. Science and Religion. Showing that good science is the friend of good religion, against modern writers who have claimed that the two are incompatible. ‘Why There Almost Certainly a God’ is a short and lively read, while ‘Pascal’s Fire’ gives a more scholarly account.
6. World Religions. Religions seek to establish beneficial relations with spiritual powers. Many religions offer ‘revelations’ of the nature and purposes of these powers. These revelations are influenced by the history and context of their cultures, and generally show some limiting factors arising from such cultures, but many of them contain insights that are of spiritual value. I suggest that each religion can be either ‘closed’, claiming unique and total truth, or ‘open’, allowing for change, diversity, and positive relations with other beliefs, so far as is possible. ‘Religion in the Modern World’ may be of interest, and ‘Concepts of God’ is also relevant.
7. The nature of Biblical (and more generally religious) language – metaphor, symbol, and parable. Studies of how Scriptural imagery is used, and of how literalist accounts can be very misleading. ‘Love is His Meaning’ looks at Jesus’ recorded life and teaching as an example.
8. Devotional. I have written a few books primarily intended for members of Anglican parishes I have worked in. ‘The Mystery of Christ’ is an example.
My general aim has been to develop a positive view of religion which is fully conversant with the best of modern science and with changes in moral thought which clearly aim at human well-being and fulfilment. I have also tried to suggest an understanding of my own faith, Christianity, which embraces many of the insights of European Enlightenment thinking, without losing sight of other and older traditions of thought.
LIST OF BOOKS
Ethics and Christianity (1970)
Exploring the relation between morality and Christian belief, and arguing that there is a distinctive Christian view of what morality is.
The Development of Kant’s View of Ethics (1972)
A study of Kant’s ethics which shows that it is more consequentialist than is often thought, and how it developed.
The Concept of God (1974)
How a Christian idea of God develops in the general context of global religious forms of life.
The Divine Image (1976)
An outline of Christian ethics as objective, attitudinal, and teleological
The Christian Way (1976)
Meditations and prayers for Christian living, written for a parish in which I served
Rational Theology and the Creativity of God (1982)
The idea of God as temporal, dynamic, creative and relational.
Holding Fast to God (1982)
A defence of the objective reality of God, in debate with Don Cupitt’s ‘Taking Leave of God’
The Living God (1984)
Talks given to a parish in which I served
The Turn of the Tide (1986)
Radio talks given on the BBC on Christian faith
Concepts of God/Images of Eternity (1987)
Ideas of Ultimate Reality in Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism – their affinities and differences.
The Rule of Love (1989)
Reflections on the Sermon on the Mount
A Vision to Pursue (1991)
Based on lectures given to Religious Studies students at King’s College, London
Religion and Revelation (1994)
The first of a five volume series on comparative theology, considering central doctrines in Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam. This one is on revelation and its analogates
God, Chance, and Necessity (1996)
An argument that evolution is not random, but that necessity, chance, value, and purpose have an important place in the explanation of the world. It is partly a response to Jacques Monod’s ‘Chance and Necessity’
Religion and Creation (1996)
The second volume of my comparative theology, on the origin and ultimate nature of the universe
Religion and Human Nature (1998)
The third volume of comparative theology, on differing ideas of the human person
God, Faith, and the New Millenium (1998)
Christian Faith re-state in the light of modern science
Religion and Community (1999)
The fourth volume of comparative theology, on different types of religious institution
Christianity, a Beginner’s Guide/a Short Introduction (2000)
Written as an introduction to Christian thought, outlining three different interpretations of the main Christian doctrines, conservative, liberal, and radical.
God – a Guide for the Perplexed (2002)
The human search for the divine throughout the world
Comparative Theology (2003), ed. By T. .Bartel
18 essays by philosophers and theologians on my work so far
What the Bible Really Teaches (2004)
How the Bible says things very different from what many people think, concentrating not on sin and judgment, but on non-violence, forgiveness, reconciliation, universal salvation, love and respect for all life.
The Case for Religion (2004)
A short comparative history of world religions, its nature and its possible future prospects
Is Religion Dangerous? (2006)
A response to modern accusations that religion is dangerous, by pointing out that it is also of immense and unique value
Pascal’s Fire (2006)
Pascal spoke of a ‘God of the philosophers’ and a ‘God of Fire’. This book discusses the growth of science, which has surprisingly often generated a ‘god of philosophers’, and its close interrelationships with religion, with its ‘God of faith’. It argues that these are the same God, and that religion has on the whole had a very positive relation with science.
Re-Thinking Christianity (2007)
How Christianity has changed many times over the centuries, and is still changing today
Christianity – a Guide for the Perplexed (2007)
A new look at some old Christian doctrines, and how the idea of God developed.
Divine Action (2007)
Philosophical problems about how one can speak of God acting in the world.
Religion and Human Fulfilment (2008)
The fifth and final volume of comparative theology (often missed, because it was with a different publisher), on the diverse moral principles and goals of religion, and how they relate to human flourishing.
Why There Almost Certainly is a God (2008)
A reply to Richard Dawkin’s ‘The God Delusion’
The Big Questions in Science and Religion (2008)
10 big questions about science and religion, from how the universe originated to the nature of consciousness.
The God Conclusion/ God and the Philosophers (2009)
How most classical philosophers have affirmed God, and what sort of God they have affirmed
More Than Matter? (2010)
A discussion of my one-time tutor Gilbert Ryle’s book ‘The Concept of Mind’, arguing that there is what he called ‘a ghost ‘ (a private consciousness) in ‘the machine’ (the material body), and arguing for a form of monism in which mind has a causal role.
The Word of God? (2010)
On the nature of the Bible as a developing, diverse, poetic, and richly metaphorical spiritual text
The Philosopher and the Gospels (2011)
A positive interpretation of the Gospels as teaching conditional salvation for all, that Christ is a cosmic figure present throughout all the universe, and that Christian faith is primarily about human fulfilment in God.
Is Religion Irrational? (2011)
An argument that faith and reason are not opposed, but that faiths can be reasonable and that reason presupposes faith in the intelligibility of the world
By Faith and Reason (2012). Ed. Curtis Holtzen and Roberto Sirvent
An edited collection of some articles by me in journals and in books.
Morality, Autonomy, and God (2013)
Another consideration of religion and morality, focussing on Divine commands in religions, the autonomy of morality, and the nature of human moral freedom
The Evidence for God (2014)
Is there evidence for the existence of God?
Christ and the Cosmos (2015)
Part of a trilogy setting out a systematic theology (actually the second volume, but written first). This volume presents Christ as the cosmic pattern and all-including goal of the universe, manifest in human form on this planet in Jesus of Nazareth; and expounds the Trinity as three inseparable aspects of one God
Re-thinking Order (2016) edited with Nancy Cartwright
A collection of essays, mostly by scientists, challenging the notion of absolute laws of nature, and offering different views of natural order in the cosmos
Re-Imaging the Trinity (2016),
A symposium on the Trinity in the journal ‘Philosophia Christi’, vol. 18, number 2, in which 10 contributors discuss my suggestions about the Trinity, with short responses by me.
Love is His Meaning (2017)
A study of the teaching of Jesus, as recorded in the Gospels, examining the figures of speech and the often ironic and metaphorical language he used
The Christian Idea of God (2017)
The first book of my trilogy on systematic theology (unfortunately, written after the second part). It develops a Personal Idealist concept of God, as a cosmic mind of supreme value, who manifests as love by relating to a created world of autonomous persons
The Mystery of Christ (2018)
An exposition of Christ as portrayed in the Gospels, especially the Gospel of John. Intended to be a devotional as well as a theological work, it contains short meditations and prayers on the main themes discussed.
Religion in the Modern World (2019)
An account of the place of religion in the contemporary world, and the prospects for the future of world religions.
Confessions of a Recovering Fundamentalist (2019)
How I was converted by a fundamentalist Christian group, and progressed (or regressed, they would say) to a liberal Christian faith.
Sharing in the Divine Nature (2020)
The third part of my systematic theology trilogy. It deals with the idea of the goal of all things as a union of partly self-shaped persons and of created intrinsic values working towards a sharing of all things ‘in heaven and earth’ in the nature of God.
The Priority of Mind (2021)
A philosophical presentation of the view that the ultimate reality is mind, and that matter is its expression and the medium which makes possible communities of beings with finite knowledge, feeling, and action. This is personal idealism, which is not confined to but is found in many Christian theologies.
My Theology – Personal Idealism (2021)
A short book in a series by many theologians called ‘my theology’. In my case, it shows how the philosophy of personal Idealism can be a foundation for Christian faith.
Parables of Time and Eternity (2021)
The parables of Jesus, arranged and expounded so as to express a theology of divine demand, judgment, forgiveness, reconciliation, and universal fulfilment.
Adventures in Belief (2022)
An autobiography of a life in which most things seem to have happened by accident - or could it be some sort of providence?
Spirituality and Christian Belief (2024)
How to see Christian faith as a spiritual way of fulfilment, not an authoritarian set of dogmas.
Karl Barth on Religion: a Critique (2024)
This is a detailed critique of Barth’s writings on religion in his ‘Church Dogmatics’, vol. one/two. I do not deny that Barth has had a remarkable effect on modern Christian thought. But I also think it has been harmful in some ways, especially in its attacks on philosophy and liberal theology. This book aims to show that these attacks are based on some major theological misunderstandings, which I consider in detail.
God and Faith; ed. Ian S. Markham and J. D. Bauman (2025)
7 essays by theologians who are sympathetic to yet critical of my work, with short (and grateful) responses by me – intended by the editors as a research seminar textbook.