He began by engaging with what mattered and was significant to them, and then trusting, discerning, and helping them to recognize the source and energy of life (God's Spirit) already at work within their lives and making deep connections with the truth of the Gospel.
During this time he also worked on a theology that might give dedicated attention both to the intensity of God and to the way the world is, especially as described, interpreted, and explained by theologians, philosophers, and scientists since the sixteenth century.
[3] Hardy returned to England in 1995, to an active retirement based in the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge.
[4] His involvement in the 1998 Lambeth Conferences and participation in some of the Primates' meetings made him look for a reconciliatory imagination and practice centered on scripture and nurturing a deeper and richer sociality, touching healingly the depths of each person.
In October 2007, he received an honorary doctorate recognizing him for his life work from the General Theological Seminary.
He is a pastor of others within the Eucharist; within the Anglican Communion, a pastor on behalf of Abrahamic communions and to human communities more generally.... all of whom he sees lit up by (the) divine attractiveness itself.... the great cosmic and ecclesial and divine communion of lights which draws him to it and us and draws us to be near him.” His vocation attempted to engage more deeply with life in all its particularity, tracing the Bible's prophetic wisdom to its source in the divine intensity of God’s love and working to share that love through the church to the whole world, particularly in the Eucharist: light and love together.