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Frederick Denison Maurice

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Frederick Denison Maurice
John Frederick Denison Maurice, often known as F. D. Maurice (29 August 1805 – 1 April 1872), was a major theologian of the Church of England, a prolific author and one of the founders of Christian Socialism. Since World War II, interest in Maurice has expanded.

John Frederick Denison Maurice was born in Normanton, Suffolk, on 29 August 1805, the only son of Michael Maurice and his wife, Priscilla. Michael Maurice was the evening preacher in a Unitarian chapel. Deaths in the family brought about changes in the family’s "religious convictions" and "vehement disagreement" between family members.

That Maurice left a legacy that would be valued by many was harbingered by responses to his death. "Crowds following his remains to their last resting place, and around the open grave there stood men of widely different creeds, united for the moment by the common sorrow and their deep sense of loss. From pulpit and press, from loyal friends and honest opponents, the tribute to the worth of Mr. Maurice was both sincere and generous."

Maurice’s written legacy includes "nearly 40 volumes," and they hold "a permanent place in the history of thought in his time."[1] His writings are "recognizable as the utterance of a mind profoundly Christian in all its convictions."[41]

By themselves, two of Maurice’s books, The Kingdom of Christ (1838 and later editions) and Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy (2 volumes, 1871–1872), are "remarkable enough to have made their writer famous." But there more reasons for Maurice’s fame. In his "life-work" Maurice was "constantly teaching, writing, guiding, organizing; training up others to do the same kind of work, but giving them something of his spirit, never simply his views." He drew out "all the best that was in others, never trying to force himself upon them." With his opponents, Maurice tried to find some "common ground" between them. None who knew him personally "could doubt that he was indeed a man of God."

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