Religion and Human Nature by Keith Ward

1189 Words3 Pages

Introduction
Keith Ward, is known as an Anglican priest and has held positions in social theology, history, and philosophy of religion at King’s College, University of London. Ultimately, Ward held religious Professor chairs at The University of Oxford and Cannon of Christ Church Cathedral. Ward has released numerous publications in philosophy and theology throughout his time employed as Professor at these Universities. From Ward’s series of comparative theology publications came, Religion and Human Nature. In General, this book examines religious views of human nature and fate. The philosophies of many cultures are presented and theories discussed are arranged according to distinct traditions that represent specific religions.
Themes
In Religion and Human Nature, Ward presents the reader with six major religious backgrounds that center as major themes in this novel. Ideals presented are: Advaita Vedanta there is on supreme self, Vaishnava there is an infinite number of souls, Buddhist there is no eternal self, and Abrahamic persons are embodied souls. Subsequent to these philosophies are Indian ideas of rebirth, Semitic belief, and the impact of scientific theories of biological evolution. Next, Ward presents Christian Doctrine of original sin where he emphasizes the concept of soterial. The final theme illustrated is a Christian view of personal immortality compared to Jewish and Muslin beliefs of resurrection.
Book Content Review
In the beginning chapters, Ward examines the non-dualism outlook to human nature. Here he relates his works to the Advaita Vedanta movement of the Hindu at the turn of the century. Ward’s focus centered on the fact that Hindu believed the individual soul is only that of manifestation and beyond that...

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...lysis that was significantly informative to read. The book was well-written though at time it seemed hard to follow the generally wrap up of ideologies where understandable. It was entertaining to read the wide variety of Christian doctrine and how it effects human thought. More than entertaining this book allows individuals and understanding among cultures, religions, beliefs and how they affect personal actions that is an educational aspect that can be hard to grasp. Though this publication argued why some religions had specifics that remain unanswered; it provided major insight into the customs of an array of cultures. As a society work like this should lead us into the future with understanding of one another and should push us all for as a civilization. This work was stimulating in its insight into religions and the contributions that have had on human nature.

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