For was born on 23 January 1948[3]inDublin.[4] He was raised as an Anglican in the Church of Ireland in Dublin. His father died when he was 12 years old[1][5] and he was raised by his mother, Phyllis Mary Elizabeth Ford.[6]
From 1976 to 1991 Ford was a lecturer (later senior lecturer) at the University of Birmingham.[2] Living in the inner city, his theology was shaped by a multi-faith experience, and he also became involved in a local Anglican church in the evangelical tradition. As his housemate was involved in renovating derelict houses, he lived in some of those houses and became a house manager for one of them.[1] In the university's theology department, he became close to theologian Daniel W. Hardy and went on to marry Hardy's daughter.[5]
In 1991 he moved to Cambridge to become the Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge.[2] He is the first professor in this post who is not in the Anglican ministry.[9] He helped found and chairs the management committee of the Centre for Advanced Religious and Theological Studies at Cambridge. He is a member of St John's College, a fellow of Selwyn College, and a foundation member of Trinity College.[2]
He is highly regarded for his scholarship, is a sought-after lecturer and preacher, and serves as an advisor to the bishops of the Anglican Communion.[1] His books have met with wide appeal; his The Modern Theologians: An Introduction to Christian Theology in the Twentieth Century (Blackwell, 1997), now in its third printing, is the leading textbook on modern Christian theology in the English-speaking world, China and Korea.[7] His Theology: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 1999), part of the Very Short Introductions series, has been translated into many languages, including Chinese, Korean, Indonesian, Romanian, and Kurdish.[7]
When Ford came to Cambridge in 1991, the theology department focused almost exclusively on Christianity. Ford assisted in the realisation of a development plan which included a new building, a new Centre for Advanced Religious and Theological Studies, new endowed research posts, and the development of the Cambridge Theological Federation (the university's consortium of Anglican, Methodist, and United Reformed seminaries). The university went on to add two new posts in Islamic studies, a new post in New Testament, and a new endowed post in theology and natural science. A Roman Catholic institute and institute for Orthodox Christian theology were added to the consortium of seminaries.[1] The Centre for Jewish–Christian Relations was established in 1998,[10] followed by the Centre for the Study of Muslim–Jewish Relations in 2006.
In 2002 Ford became the founding director of the Cambridge Inter-Faith Programme.[13] Among his activities are lectures at international conferences on Muslim–Christian relations.[14][15] In October 2007 he helped launch a letter by 138 Muslim scholars to 25 Christian leaders, including the Pope, the Orthodox patriarchs, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the heads of the world alliances of the Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist and Reformed churches, calling for peace and reconciliation between Christians and Muslims for the survival of the world.[citation needed] The following month, he was one of the signatories on a Christian response seeking Muslim forgiveness.[16]
Ford is active both within the university and in public life. He has been a trustee for the Center of Theological Inquiry at Princeton since 2007 and a member of the board of advisors for the John Templeton Foundation since 2008. Other professional memberships include the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature.[2]
From 2003 to 2008 Ford was an academic member of the World Economic Forum Council of 100 Leaders for West-Islamic World Dialogue. He is an external advisor for the Centre for Christian Studies in Hong Kong (since 2006), a trustee for the Golden Web Foundation, a developer of a global multimedia publishing system with a focus on pre-modern world history, heritage and culture (since 2006), and a consultant for L'Arche Communities, a federation of over 100 communities for people with severe mental disabilities (since 1993).[2]
In 2011 he was one of 1,750 signatories to a letter to US President Barack Obama urging US intervention in the Libyan civil war.[17]
He is married to Deborah Ford, daughter of Daniel W. Hardy. She is an assistant chaplain at Addenbrooke's Hospital, part of the Cambridge University Hospital system.[9] They have three children,[13][18] Rebecca, Rachel and Daniel.[6]
The Promise of Scriptural Reasoning. Blackwell. 2006. (ed. with C. C. Pecknold; includes chapter "An Inter-Faith Wisdom: Scriptural Reasoning Between Jews, Christians and Muslims")
Jubilate: Theology in Practice. London: Darton Longman & Todd. 2004. (with Daniel W. Hardy). Published in US as Praising and Knowing God, Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 2005.
Hardy, Daniel W. (2010). Wording a Radiance: Parting Conversations on God and the Church. SCM. ISBN978-0-334-04208-2. (ed. by David Ford, Deborah Ford, Peter Ochs, published in paperback as Attracting God's Light: A Parting Theology)
Review by Michael BarnesinThinking Faith: The Online Journal of the British Jesuits, 14 January 2011.
"Third Epoch: The Future of Discourse in Jewish–Christian Relations" (with Peter Ochs), in Challenges in Jewish–Christian Relations, James K. Aitken and Edward Kessler, eds. New York: Paulist Press, 2006, pp. 153–170.
"Developing Scriptural Reasoning Further", in Scripture, Reason, and the Contemporary Islam-West Encounter: Studying the 'Other', Understanding the 'Self', Basit Bilal Koshul and Steven Kepnes, eds. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, pp. 201–219.
"God and Our Public Life: A scriptural wisdom", in Liberating Texts? Sacred Scriptures in Public Life, Sebastian C. H. Kim and Jonathan Draper, eds. London: SPCK, 2008, pp. 29–56.
"Theology"inThe Routledge Companion to the Study of Religions (2nd edition, 2009), John Hinnells, ed. Routledge, ISBN0-415-47327-6.
"Theology and Religious Studies for a Multifaith and Secular Society", in Theology and Religious Studies in Higher Education: Global Perspectives, Darlene L. Bird and Simon G. Smith, eds. London: Continuum, 2009, pp. 31–43.
"Paul Ricoeur: A Biblical Philosopher on Jesus", in Jesus and Philosophy: New Essays, Paul K. Moser, ed. Cambridge University Press, 2009, pp. 169–193.
"Foreword" to New Perspectives for Evangelical Theology: Engaging God, Scripture, and the World. Routledge, 2009.
"Knowledge, Meaning and the World's Greatest Challenges: Reinventing Cambridge University in the Twenty-first Century", lecture at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 14 February 2003.
"The Qur'an: A New Translation", speech given at the launch of The Qur'an: A New Translation at SOAS, University of London, 13 May 2004.
"At the heart of healthy inter-faith engagement is a triple dynamic: going deeper into your own faith, deeper into each other's, and deeper into action for the common good of humanity".[20]
" Few things are likely to be more important for the twenty-first century than wise faith among the world's religious communities. That calls for fuller understanding, better education, and a commitment to the flourishing of our whole planet".[21]
