Research
At present Professor Ford is working on a major new project – a theological interpretation of the Gospel of John. He has also recently finished a Manifesto on The Future of Christian Theology for Wiley-Blackwell, which will appear in 2011, and a reader for the third edition of The Modern Theologians. His current research interests in the area of contemporary Christian thought are focused in two directions: first, in the direction of hermeneutics, the interpretation of scripture and substantive issues in contemporary Christian thought and practice; and second, in the direction of inter-faith theology and relations, particularly the issues of inter-faith scriptural interpretation and the relation of faiths to secular cultures, traditions and forces. Among his other research interests are: the shaping of universities and of the field of theology and religious studies within them; political theology; theology and poetry; ecumenical theology; and Christian theologians and theologies.
Publications
- The Future of Christian Theology (Blackwell Manifesto Series; Wiley-Blackwell, 2011)
- The Modern Theologians Reader , ed. with Mike Higton and Simeon Zahl (Wiley-Blackwell, 2011)
- Wording a Radiance: Parting Conversations on God and the Church with Daniel W. Hardy, Deborah Hardy Ford and Peter Ochs (SCM, 2010)
- Christian Wisdom. Desiring God and Learning in Love (Cambridge Studies in Christian Doctrine series; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2007)
- Shaping Theology: Engagements in a Religious and Secular World (Challenges in Contemporary Theology series; Blackwell, Oxford, 2007)
- Musics of Belonging: The Poetry of Micheal O’Siadhail. Edited with Marc Caball. With chapter ‘Life, Work, and Reception’ (Dublin, 2007)
- The Promise of Scriptural Reasoning . Ed. with C. C. Pecknold. With chapter ‘An Inter-Faith Wisdom: Scriptural Reasoning between Jews, Christians and Muslims’ at pp. 1-22 (Blackwell, Oxford, 2006)
- The Modern Theologians - An Introduction to Christian Theology since 1918 . Ed. with Rachel Muers. With ‘Introduction to Modern Christian Theology’ and ‘Epilogue: Twelve Theses for Christian Theology in the Twenty-first Century’, third edition (Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, Malden [MA] 2005; various editions published in Swedish, German, Chinese and Korean Korean edition, Christian Literature Crusade, Seoul 2005)
- Fields of Faith - Theology and Religious Studies for the Twenty-First Century . Ed. with Ben Quash and Janet Martin Soskice. With ‘Introduction’ at pp. xiii-xvii (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2005)
- Jubilate. Theology in Praise , with Daniel W. Hardy (Darton, Longman and Todd, London 1984; US edition, Praising and Knowing God, Westminster Press, Philadelphia 1985) 216pp, revised and updated as Living in Praise - Worshipping and Knowing God(Darton, Longman and Todd, London 2005)
- Self and Salvation: Being Transformed (Cambridge Studies in Christian Doctrine Series, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1999)
- Theology: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, Oxford 1998, 2000)
- ‘Where is Wise Theological Creativity to be Found? Thoughts on 25 Years of Modern Theology and the Twenty-First Century Prospect’, in Modern Theology, Vol. 26, No. 1, January 2010, pp. 67-75
- ‘Theology and Religious Studies for a Multifaith and Secular Society’, in Theology and Religious Studies in Higher Education: Global Perspectives, edited by Darlene L. Bird and Simon G. Smith (Continuum, London 2009), pp. 31-43
- ‘Paul Ricoeur: A Biblical Philosopher on Jesus’, in Jesus and Philosophy: New Essays, edited by Paul K. Moser (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2009), pp. 169-193
- ‘Foreword’ to New Perspectives for Evangelical Theology: Engaging God, Scripture, and the World (Routledge, London 2009)
- ‘God and our public life: a scriptural wisdom’, in Liberating Texts? Sacred Scriptures in Public Life, edited by Sebastian C. H. Kim and Jonathan Draper (SPCK, London, 2008), pp. 29-56
- ‘Developing Scriptural Reasoning Further’, in Scripture, Reason, and the Contemporary Islam-West Encounter: Studying the ‘Other’, Understanding the ‘Self’, edited by Basit Bilal Koshul and Steven Kepnes (Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2007), pp. 201-219
- ‘Gospel in Context: Among Many Faiths’, in Pilgrim: Magazine of the Friends of the Church in India, No. 30, March-April 2007, pp. 3-7
- ‘God and Our Public Life: A Scriptural Wisdom’, in International Journal of Public Theology, Vol. 1, No.1, 2007, pp. 63-81
- ‘A Wisdom for Anglican Life: Lambeth 1998 to Lambeth 2008 and Beyond’, in Journal of Anglican Studies, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2006, pp. 137-156
- ‘A Third Epoch: The Future of Discourse In Jewish-Christian Relations’ (with Peter Ochs) in Challenges in Jewish-Christian Relations, edited by James K. Aitken and Edward Kessler (Paulist Press, New York 2006), pp. 153-170