Ward, Joseph Neville
1915-1992; e.m. 1938

Born on 17 April 1915 at Oxenhope, Yorks, the son of John Ward (1866-1949; e.m. 1892). He was educated at Kingswood School, Exeter College, Oxford and Manchester University and trained for the ministry at Hartley Victoria College. His spirituality and ability to appreciate many different traditions was evident in both his preaching and his books, particularly The Use of Praying (1967) and Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy (1971), a study of the rosary. Philip Toynbee in The End of a Journey (1988), pp.320, 356, considered The Use of Praying 'the best devotional book of our time - at least as good as the best of Thomas Merton'. He died at Canterbury on 26 October 1992.

Quotations

'Seven years at John Wesley's school gave me the beginnings of sensitivity to five realms - the value of reason, the good ness of the body, the pleasure and pain in personal relationships, the call to serve, the appreciation of beauty.'

Quoted by Norman Wallwork in The Gospel Church Secure (2013), p.162)

Sources
  • Methodist Recorder, 12 Nov. 1992