Michael Thomas Ball is an Anglican bishop and the co-founder of the Community of the Glorious Ascension

Community of the Glorious Ascension

The Community of the Glorious Ascension is an Anglican monastic community in the United Kingdom, co-founded in 1960 by twin brothers Michael Ball and Peter Ball. It was founded in Stratford Park in Stroud, Gloucestershire, and the priory is now at Lamacraft Farm, Start Point, near Kingsbridge in...

. He was the Bishop of Truro

Bishop of Truro

The Bishop of Truro is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Truro in the Province of Canterbury.The present diocese covers the county of Cornwall and it is one of the most recently created dioceses of the Church of England...

 from 1990 to 1997.

Ball was educated at Lancing College

Lancing College

Lancing College is a co-educational English independent school in the British public school tradition, founded in 1848 by Nathaniel Woodard. Woodard's aim was to provide education "based on sound principle and sound knowledge, firmly grounded in the Christian faith." Lancing was the first of a...

 and Queens' College, Cambridge

Queens' College, Cambridge

Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou , and refounded in 1465 by Elizabeth Woodville...

. He was a teacher of biology and chemistry at Marling School

Marling School

Marling School is a grammar school for boys located in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England, next to its sister school, Stroud High School. It is on the Cainscross Road, the main route out of Stroud towards the M5....

 in Stroud, Gloucestershire

Stroud, Gloucestershire

Stroud is a market town and civil parish in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District.Situated below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills at the meeting point of the Five Valleys, the town is noted for its steep streets and cafe culture...

  and was then head of the lower school until 1975. He was chaplain of Sussex University 1976 to 1980, suffragan Bishop of Jarrow

Bishop of Jarrow

The Bishop of Jarrow is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Durham, in the Province of York, England. The title takes its name after the former Anglo Saxon monastery in the town of Jarrow in Tyne and Wear....

 from 1980 to 1990 and then the 13th Bishop of Truro. He was the first bishop there to ordain women.

In 1960 Ball founded a monastic community at Stratford Park

Stratford Park

Stratford Park is a green flag awarded area of Stroud in Gloucestershire, south west England. With a large park and lake, and a leisure centre complex, Stratford Park is a major tourist area for Stroud. It is located on the outskirts of Stroud near Paganhill and Whiteshill...

 in Stroud, along with his identical twin brother Peter Ball

Peter John Ball

Peter John Ball is the co-founder of the Community of the Glorious Ascension and a former Bishop of Lewes and of Gloucester. Educated at Lancing College and Queens' College, Cambridge, he was ordained in 1956 and began his ministry with a curacy at Rottingdean, after which he was Prior of the...

, who later became suffragan Bishop of Lewes

Bishop of Lewes

The Bishop of Lewes is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after Lewes, the county town of East Sussex.-List of the Bishops of Lewes:...

 (1977 - 1992) and then Bishop of Gloucester

Bishop of Gloucester

The Bishop of Gloucester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Gloucester in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers the County of Gloucestershire and part of the County of Worcestershire and has its see in the City of Gloucester where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church...

(1992–1993).

Ball is the author of Foolish Risks of God, a Lenten study course on the parables of the New Testament (Mowbray Lent Book, ISBN 0-8264-6395-9) published in 2002. In the book's introduction he writes of the parables,

"The deepest problems of the universe are hidden in their simplicity, whether it be free will and choice, reward and punishment, or justice and mercy, power and powerlessness, and in most cases Jesus has complete confidence in our ability to understand their significance for ourselves, despite what the Gospel writers and preachers ever since have tried to do with them. They are not commandments for behaviour, though they may gently persuade; neither are they black and white morsels of theology. They are signposts to God and guides to living and loving."