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| − | '''John Frederick Denison Maurice''' (August 29, 1805 - April 1, 1872) was an [[England|English]] [[theology|theologian]] and [[socialism|socialist]]. | + | '''John Frederick Denison Maurice''' (August 29, 1805 - April 1, 1872) was an [[England|English]] [[theology|theologian]] and [[socialism|socialist]] recognized as one of the most important thinkers in the Anglican tradition. Influenced by [[Samuel Colleridge]] and a close friend of the popular clergyman and novelist, [[Charles Kingsley]] he in turn influenced the poet, [[Alfred Lord Tennyson]]. His interests were not limited to theoretical issues but extended to the education and welfare of the working class, helping to establish Queen’s College, London as the first women’s higher education institute in England and founding the Working Men’s College (1854). He was one of the best known clergy in Victorian England. He has been described as a prophetic voice on behalf of the poor. <ref>”The Leaven of F. D Maurice”, Anglo-Catholic Socialism [http://www.anglocatholicsocialism.org/maurice.html The Leaven of F D Maurice] Retrieved November 2, 2007.</ref> |
| − | + | ||
==Biography== | ==Biography== | ||
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At this time he was undecided about his religious opinions, and he ultimately found relief in a decision to take a further university course and to seek [[Anglican]] orders. Entering [[Exeter College, Oxford]], he took a second class in classics in 1831. He was ordained in 1834, and after a short [[curacy]] at [[Bubbenhall]] in [[Warwickshire]] was appointed [[chaplain]] of [[Guy's Hospital]], and became a leading figure in the intellectual and social life of London. From 1839 to 1841, Maurice was editor of the ''Education Magazine''. In 1840 he was appointed professor of English history and literature at [[King's College London]], and to this post in 1846 was added the chair of divinity. In 1845 he was Boyle lecturer and Warburton lecturer. These chairs he held till 1853. | At this time he was undecided about his religious opinions, and he ultimately found relief in a decision to take a further university course and to seek [[Anglican]] orders. Entering [[Exeter College, Oxford]], he took a second class in classics in 1831. He was ordained in 1834, and after a short [[curacy]] at [[Bubbenhall]] in [[Warwickshire]] was appointed [[chaplain]] of [[Guy's Hospital]], and became a leading figure in the intellectual and social life of London. From 1839 to 1841, Maurice was editor of the ''Education Magazine''. In 1840 he was appointed professor of English history and literature at [[King's College London]], and to this post in 1846 was added the chair of divinity. In 1845 he was Boyle lecturer and Warburton lecturer. These chairs he held till 1853. | ||
| − | In that year he published ''Theological Essays''; the opinions it expressed were viewed by the principal, Dr [[R. W. Jelf]], and by the council, as being of unsound theology. He had previously been called on to clear himself from charges of [[heterodoxy]] brought against him in the ''Quarterly Review'' (1851), and had been acquitted by a committee of inquiry. Now he maintained with great conviction that his views were in accord with Scripture and the [[Anglican]] standards, but the council, declining to submit the case to the judgment of competent theologians, ruled otherwise, and he was deprived of his professorships. (It is worth noting that a chair at King's, the F D Maurice Professorship of Moral and Social Theology, now commemorates his contribution to scholarship at the College.) He held the chaplaincy of [[Lincoln's Inn]], for which he had resigned Guy's (1846-1860), but when he offered to resign this the benchers refused. The same happened with the incumbency of [[St. Peter's, Vere Street]], which he held for nine years (1860—1869), becoming the centre of a sympathetic circle. During the early years of this period he was engaged in a hot and bitter controversy with [[Henry Longueville Mansel]] (afterwards dean of [[St Paul's Cathedral|St Paul's]]), arising out of the latter's 1858 [[Bampton lectures|Bampton lecture]] on reason and revelation. | + | In that year he published ''Theological Essays''; the opinions it expressed were viewed by the principal, Dr [[R. W. Jelf]], and by the council, as being of unsound theology relating to the doctrine of hell – he questioned whether a loving God would consign people to permanent torture and reinterpreted hell as an eternity separated from God. He had previously been called on to clear himself from charges of [[heterodoxy]] brought against him in the ''Quarterly Review'' (1851), and had been acquitted by a committee of inquiry. Now he maintained with great conviction that his views were in accord with Scripture and the [[Anglican]] standards, but the council, declining to submit the case to the judgment of competent theologians, ruled otherwise, and he was deprived of his professorships. (It is worth noting that a chair at King's, the F D Maurice Professorship of Moral and Social Theology, now commemorates his contribution to scholarship at the College.) He held the chaplaincy of [[Lincoln's Inn]], for which he had resigned Guy's (1846-1860), but when he offered to resign this the benchers refused. The same happened with the incumbency of [[St. Peter's, Vere Street]], which he held for nine years (1860—1869), becoming the centre of a sympathetic circle. During the early years of this period he was engaged in a hot and bitter controversy with [[Henry Longueville Mansel]] (afterwards dean of [[St Paul's Cathedral|St Paul's]]), arising out of the latter's 1858 [[Bampton lectures|Bampton lecture]] on reason and revelation. |
==Achievements== | ==Achievements== | ||
| − | During his residence in London, Maurice was identified with two important educational initiatives. He helped to found Queen's College for the education of women (1848), and the Working Men's College (1854), of which he was the first principal. He strongly advocated the abolition of university tests (1853), and threw himself with great energy into all that affected the social life of the people. | + | During his residence in London, Maurice was identified with two important educational initiatives. He helped to found Queen's College for the education of women (1848) the first such institution in England, and the Working Men's College (1854), of which he was the first principal. He also founded the Worker’s Education Association, which pioneered adult education. He strongly advocated the abolition of university tests (1853 which prevented Dissenters from graduating), and threw himself with great energy into all that affected the social life of the people. Attempts at co-operation among working men, and the movement known as [[Christian Socialism]], were the immediate outcome of his teaching. The Co-operative movement, with its farms, shops, Bank and other associational activities, stemmed from this initiative. In 1866 Maurice was appointed [[Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy|Knightbridge Professor of Moral Philosophy]] at Cambridge, and from 1870 to 1872 was incumbent of St Edward's in that city. Many streets in [[London]] are named in F D Maurice's honor, including a street in the south part of [[Hampstead Garden Suburb]]. Underneath all his teaching and social and educational initiatives was the conviction that the Christian calling is not only about preparing to meet God after death, but about creating a Christian society – God’s kingdom – in the here and now. He thought that the Church of England should put worship and sacraments before dogma, since the former connect people with God while dogmas represent human opinions which can stand between people and God. |
==Personal Life== | ==Personal Life== | ||
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He was twice married, first to Anna Barton, a sister of [[John Sterling (author)|John Sterling]]'s wife, secondly to a half-sister of his friend Archdeacon Hare. His son Major-General Sir [[John Frederick Maurice]] (b. 1841), became a distinguished soldier and one of the most prominent military writers of his time. His grandson, [[Frederick Barton Maurice]] was also a British General and writer. | He was twice married, first to Anna Barton, a sister of [[John Sterling (author)|John Sterling]]'s wife, secondly to a half-sister of his friend Archdeacon Hare. His son Major-General Sir [[John Frederick Maurice]] (b. 1841), became a distinguished soldier and one of the most prominent military writers of his time. His grandson, [[Frederick Barton Maurice]] was also a British General and writer. | ||
| − | Those who knew Maurice best were deeply impressed with the spirituality of his character. "Whenever he woke in the night," says his wife, "he was always praying." [[Charles Kingsley]] called him "the most beautiful human soul whom God has ever allowed me to meet with." | + | Those who knew Maurice best were deeply impressed with the spirituality of his character. "Whenever he woke in the night," says his wife, "he was always praying." [[Charles Kingsley]] called him "the most beautiful human soul whom God has ever allowed me to meet with." <ref> “Frederick Denison Maurice”, Britannica 1911 [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/John_Frederick_Denison_Maurice Frederick Denison Maurice] Retrieved November 2, 2007.</ref>. Commenting on his intellectual attainments we may set [[Julius Hare]]'s verdict "the greatest mind since [[Plato]]" over against [[John Ruskin]]'s "by nature puzzle-headed and indeed wrong-headed." Such contradictory impressions reveal a life made up of contradictory elements.<ref>ibid</ref> His friend, the Poet Laureate, Alfred Lord Tennyson dedicated a poem to him, “come, when no graver cares emplpy’ <ref> To the Rev. F. D Maurice’ , January 1854 [http://www.readprint.com/work-1424/Lord-Alfred-Tennyson To the Rev. F. D Maurice] Retrieved November 2, 2007.</ref> |
| + | |||
While many "Broad Churchmen" were influenced by ethical and emotional considerations in their repudiation of the [[dogma]] of everlasting torment, Maurice was swayed by intellectual and theological arguments, and in questions of a more general liberty he often opposed the Liberal theologians. He had a wide metaphysical and philosophical knowledge which he applied to the history of theology. He was a strenuous advocate of ecclesiastical control in elementary education, and an opponent of the new school of higher biblical criticism, though so far an evolutionist as to believe in growth and development as applied to the history of nations. | While many "Broad Churchmen" were influenced by ethical and emotional considerations in their repudiation of the [[dogma]] of everlasting torment, Maurice was swayed by intellectual and theological arguments, and in questions of a more general liberty he often opposed the Liberal theologians. He had a wide metaphysical and philosophical knowledge which he applied to the history of theology. He was a strenuous advocate of ecclesiastical control in elementary education, and an opponent of the new school of higher biblical criticism, though so far an evolutionist as to believe in growth and development as applied to the history of nations. | ||
| − | As a preacher, his message was apparently simple; his two great convictions were the fatherhood of God, and that all religious systems which had any stability lasted because of a portion of truth which had to be disentangled from the error differentiating them from the doctrines of the [[Church of England]] as understood by himself. The prophetic, even apocalyptic, note of his preaching was particularly impressive. He prophesied "often with dark foreboding, but seeing through all unrest and convulsion the working out of a sure divine purpose." Both at King's College and at Cambridge Maurice gathered a following of earnest students. He encouraged the habit of inquiry and research, more valuable than his direct teaching. | + | As a preacher, his message was apparently simple; his two great convictions were the fatherhood of God, and that all religious systems which had any stability lasted because of a portion of truth which had to be disentangled from the error differentiating them from the doctrines of the [[Church of England]] as understood by himself. The prophetic, even apocalyptic, note of his preaching was particularly impressive. He prophesied "often with dark foreboding, but seeing through all unrest and convulsion the working out of a sure divine purpose." <ref> Britannic 1911</ref>Both at King's College and at Cambridge Maurice gathered a following of earnest students. He encouraged the habit of inquiry and research, more valuable than his direct teaching. |
As a social reformer, Maurice was before his time, and gave his eager support to schemes for which the world was not ready. The condition of the city's poor troubled him; the magnitude of the social questions involved was a burden he could hardly bear. Working men of all opinions seemed to trust him even if their faith in other religious men and all religious systems had faded, and he had a power of attracting both the zealot and the outcast. | As a social reformer, Maurice was before his time, and gave his eager support to schemes for which the world was not ready. The condition of the city's poor troubled him; the magnitude of the social questions involved was a burden he could hardly bear. Working men of all opinions seemed to trust him even if their faith in other religious men and all religious systems had faded, and he had a power of attracting both the zealot and the outcast. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==On Other Religions== | ||
| + | Maurice also pioneered a re-thinking of the Christian attitude towards other faiths in his Boyce Lectures, published as The Religions of the World (1846). He began his lectures with the premise, itself shocking to many Christians at the time, that all religions have their origin in the divine. They stem, he argued, from some something that is better than their human followers, which sustains them despite human weakness. This ‘inner strength’ was not due to man’s own spiritual nature or faculties but to what he called ‘the higher ground’, or, anticipating [[Paul Tillich]], ‘the ground of our being.’ <ref>Maurice, 1846 p 25 – 26; Tillich, 1953, V1 p 49</ref>. Each religion, he suggested, stressed a vital aspect of divine truth while only Christianity holds all aspects together in absolute harmony. Christianity, in contact with other religions, can therefore supply the wholeness they need to become effectual. Christianity, though, like all systems, suffers decay and stands itself in need of the revitalization that contact with other faiths can supply. Therefore, if other faiths need Christianity, Christianity also needs them; thus theology of religions becomes a universal concern. Maurice reacted against [[Thomas Carlyle]]’s pantheism, although Carlyle’s psychological portrait of Muhammad was his principal source. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Maurice’s main contribution was the placing of a theology of religions that positively valued other faiths within a wider theological framework. Briefly, this centered on his profound conviction that God had both created and redeemed mankind. All are therefore ‘in Christ’ whether they know it or nor. Hindus and Muslims as well as Christians stand in a relationship with him. ‘Unity’, says biographer Florance Higham, ‘whether in a person or a people, was of the essence’ of Maurice’s understanding of the Gospel <ref>Higham, 1947 p 25 </ref> Islam’s value, Maurice suggested, was its clear proclamation that God is and that he seeks men out. Islam emphasises the fact of God’s being and is most vital when proclaiming that fact. It degenerates, said Maurice, when it attempts to substitute ‘visions of His nature’ for that fact. This becomes fruitless speculation and results in Muslims becoming worshippers of a ‘dead necessity’ instead of witnesses of a ‘Living Being.’ <ref>Maurice, 1846 p 152</ref> Maurice found little comfort in beliefs about God. Instead, he demanded belief in God, ‘unobstructed intercourse with the Deity.’ <ref>Sanders, 1942 p 221</ref> | ||
| + | |||
| + | However, the Gospel’s picture of God’s nature as incarnate in Christ, if ‘grounded’ in a Muslim’s ‘original faith’ and not presented as a substitute for it, can ‘preserve the precious fragments of truth’ in Islam and, ‘forming them into a whole’, make it ‘effectual for the blessing of all lands over which it reigns.’ <ref>Maurice, p 154</ref> Thus for Maurice, as for Forster, Islam possessed spiritual values and occupied a place in God’s providence. Christians need not, said Maurice, ‘regard its continuance wholly as a calamity.’ <ref>ibid, p 23</ref> | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | |||
==Works and Writings== | ==Works and Writings== | ||
| − | The following are his most important works—some of | + | The following are his most important works—some of these appeared in revised editions at later dates. |
| + | : | ||
*''Eustace Conway, or the Brother and Sister'', a novel (1834) | *''Eustace Conway, or the Brother and Sister'', a novel (1834) | ||
*''The Kingdom of Christ'' (1842) | *''The Kingdom of Christ'' (1842) | ||
| − | *''Christmas Day and Other Sermons'' (1843) | + | *''Christmas Day and Other Sermons'' (1843) |
*''The Unity of the New Testament'' (1844) | *''The Unity of the New Testament'' (1844) | ||
*''The Epistle to the Hebrews'' (1846) | *''The Epistle to the Hebrews'' (1846) | ||
| − | *''The Religions of the World'' ( | + | *''The Religions of the World'' (1846) |
*''Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy'' (at first an article in the ''Encyclopaedia Metropolitana'', 1848) | *''Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy'' (at first an article in the ''Encyclopaedia Metropolitana'', 1848) | ||
*''The Church a Family'' (1850) | *''The Church a Family'' (1850) | ||
| Line 45: | Line 58: | ||
*''Lectures on Ecclesiastical History'' (1854) | *''Lectures on Ecclesiastical History'' (1854) | ||
*''The Doctrine of Sacrifice'' (1854) | *''The Doctrine of Sacrifice'' (1854) | ||
| − | *''The Patriarchs and Lawgivers of the Old Testament'' (1855) | + | *''The Patriarchs and Lawgivers of the Old Testament'' (1855) |
*''The Epistles of St John'' (1857) | *''The Epistles of St John'' (1857) | ||
*''The Commandments as Instruments of National Reformation'' (1866) | *''The Commandments as Instruments of National Reformation'' (1866) | ||
| Line 54: | Line 67: | ||
The greater part of these works were first delivered as sermons or lectures. Maurice also contributed many prefaces and introductions to the works of friends, as to Archdeacon Hare's ''Charges'', [[Kingsley]]'s ''Saint's Tragedy'', etc. See ''Life'' by his son (2 vols., London, 1884), and a monograph by [[Charles Frederick Gurney Masterman|C. F. G. Masterman]] (1907) in “Leader of the Church” series; W. E. Collins in ''Typical English Churchmen'', pp. 327-360 (1902), and T. Hughes in ''The Friendship of Books'' (1873). | The greater part of these works were first delivered as sermons or lectures. Maurice also contributed many prefaces and introductions to the works of friends, as to Archdeacon Hare's ''Charges'', [[Kingsley]]'s ''Saint's Tragedy'', etc. See ''Life'' by his son (2 vols., London, 1884), and a monograph by [[Charles Frederick Gurney Masterman|C. F. G. Masterman]] (1907) in “Leader of the Church” series; W. E. Collins in ''Typical English Churchmen'', pp. 327-360 (1902), and T. Hughes in ''The Friendship of Books'' (1873). | ||
| + | ==Notes== | ||
| + | <referecnes/> | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
| − | *Vidler, Alexander Roper. 1948. ''Witness to the light F.D. Maurice's message for to-day.'' New York: Scribner's. | + | * Higham, Florence ''Frederick Denison Maurice'', London: SCM, 1947 |
| − | *———. | + | * Maurice, F. D The Religions of the World, London: Macmillan, 1846 |
| − | *———. | + | * Morris, Jeremy. ''F. D. Maurice and the Crisis of Christian Authority''. Oxford University Press, 2005 ISBN 9780199263165 |
| − | * | + | * Morris, Jermey ''To Build Christ’s kingdom: F D Maurice and His Writings''. London: Canterbury Press, 2007 ISBN 9781853117770 |
| − | * | + | Sanders, C. K (1942) Coleridge and the Broad Church Movement, Durham, N.C. Duke University Press. |
| + | * Vidler, Alexander Roper. 1948. ''Witness to the light F.D. Maurice's message for to-day.'' New York: Scribner's. | ||
| + | *———. ''The theology of F.D. Maurice.'' London: SCM Press, 1948 | ||
| + | *———. ''F.D. Maurice and company.'' London: S.C.M. Press, 1966 | ||
| + | * Young, David. ''F. D. Maurice and Unitarianism.'' Oxford: Clarendoan Press, 1992 ISBN 9780198263395 | ||
| + | |||
| + | *{{1911}} | ||
==External links== | ==External links== | ||
* [http://clearingatkings.com/about/history/people/maurice.html King's College: Frederick Maurice] - Retrieved October 18, 2007. | * [http://clearingatkings.com/about/history/people/maurice.html King's College: Frederick Maurice] - Retrieved October 18, 2007. | ||
| − | + | *[http://anglicanhistory.org/maurice/index.html Selected works of F.D. Maurice online] Retrieved November 2, 2007. | |
| − | |||
{{Template: History of economic thought}} | {{Template: History of economic thought}} | ||
Revision as of 01:53, 2 November 2007
John Frederick Denison Maurice (August 29, 1805 - April 1, 1872) was an English theologian and socialist recognized as one of the most important thinkers in the Anglican tradition. Influenced by Samuel Colleridge and a close friend of the popular clergyman and novelist, Charles Kingsley he in turn influenced the poet, Alfred Lord Tennyson. His interests were not limited to theoretical issues but extended to the education and welfare of the working class, helping to establish Queen’s College, London as the first women’s higher education institute in England and founding the Working Men’s College (1854). He was one of the best known clergy in Victorian England. He has been described as a prophetic voice on behalf of the poor. [1]
Biography
He was born at Normanston, Suffolk, the son of a Unitarian minister, and entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1823, though only members of the Established Church were eligible to obtain a degree. Together with John Sterling (with whom he founded the Apostles' Club) he migrated to Trinity Hall, and obtained a first class in civil law in 1827; he then came to London, and gave himself to literary work, writing a novel, Eustace Conway, and editing the London Literary Chronicle until 1830, and also for a short time the Athenaeum.
At this time he was undecided about his religious opinions, and he ultimately found relief in a decision to take a further university course and to seek Anglican orders. Entering Exeter College, Oxford, he took a second class in classics in 1831. He was ordained in 1834, and after a short curacy at Bubbenhall in Warwickshire was appointed chaplain of Guy's Hospital, and became a leading figure in the intellectual and social life of London. From 1839 to 1841, Maurice was editor of the Education Magazine. In 1840 he was appointed professor of English history and literature at King's College London, and to this post in 1846 was added the chair of divinity. In 1845 he was Boyle lecturer and Warburton lecturer. These chairs he held till 1853.
In that year he published Theological Essays; the opinions it expressed were viewed by the principal, Dr R. W. Jelf, and by the council, as being of unsound theology relating to the doctrine of hell – he questioned whether a loving God would consign people to permanent torture and reinterpreted hell as an eternity separated from God. He had previously been called on to clear himself from charges of heterodoxy brought against him in the Quarterly Review (1851), and had been acquitted by a committee of inquiry. Now he maintained with great conviction that his views were in accord with Scripture and the Anglican standards, but the council, declining to submit the case to the judgment of competent theologians, ruled otherwise, and he was deprived of his professorships. (It is worth noting that a chair at King's, the F D Maurice Professorship of Moral and Social Theology, now commemorates his contribution to scholarship at the College.) He held the chaplaincy of Lincoln's Inn, for which he had resigned Guy's (1846-1860), but when he offered to resign this the benchers refused. The same happened with the incumbency of St. Peter's, Vere Street, which he held for nine years (1860—1869), becoming the centre of a sympathetic circle. During the early years of this period he was engaged in a hot and bitter controversy with Henry Longueville Mansel (afterwards dean of St Paul's), arising out of the latter's 1858 Bampton lecture on reason and revelation.
Achievements
During his residence in London, Maurice was identified with two important educational initiatives. He helped to found Queen's College for the education of women (1848) the first such institution in England, and the Working Men's College (1854), of which he was the first principal. He also founded the Worker’s Education Association, which pioneered adult education. He strongly advocated the abolition of university tests (1853 which prevented Dissenters from graduating), and threw himself with great energy into all that affected the social life of the people. Attempts at co-operation among working men, and the movement known as Christian Socialism, were the immediate outcome of his teaching. The Co-operative movement, with its farms, shops, Bank and other associational activities, stemmed from this initiative. In 1866 Maurice was appointed Knightbridge Professor of Moral Philosophy at Cambridge, and from 1870 to 1872 was incumbent of St Edward's in that city. Many streets in London are named in F D Maurice's honor, including a street in the south part of Hampstead Garden Suburb. Underneath all his teaching and social and educational initiatives was the conviction that the Christian calling is not only about preparing to meet God after death, but about creating a Christian society – God’s kingdom – in the here and now. He thought that the Church of England should put worship and sacraments before dogma, since the former connect people with God while dogmas represent human opinions which can stand between people and God.
Personal Life
He was twice married, first to Anna Barton, a sister of John Sterling's wife, secondly to a half-sister of his friend Archdeacon Hare. His son Major-General Sir John Frederick Maurice (b. 1841), became a distinguished soldier and one of the most prominent military writers of his time. His grandson, Frederick Barton Maurice was also a British General and writer.
Those who knew Maurice best were deeply impressed with the spirituality of his character. "Whenever he woke in the night," says his wife, "he was always praying." Charles Kingsley called him "the most beautiful human soul whom God has ever allowed me to meet with." [2]. Commenting on his intellectual attainments we may set Julius Hare's verdict "the greatest mind since Plato" over against John Ruskin's "by nature puzzle-headed and indeed wrong-headed." Such contradictory impressions reveal a life made up of contradictory elements.[3] His friend, the Poet Laureate, Alfred Lord Tennyson dedicated a poem to him, “come, when no graver cares emplpy’ [4]
While many "Broad Churchmen" were influenced by ethical and emotional considerations in their repudiation of the dogma of everlasting torment, Maurice was swayed by intellectual and theological arguments, and in questions of a more general liberty he often opposed the Liberal theologians. He had a wide metaphysical and philosophical knowledge which he applied to the history of theology. He was a strenuous advocate of ecclesiastical control in elementary education, and an opponent of the new school of higher biblical criticism, though so far an evolutionist as to believe in growth and development as applied to the history of nations.
As a preacher, his message was apparently simple; his two great convictions were the fatherhood of God, and that all religious systems which had any stability lasted because of a portion of truth which had to be disentangled from the error differentiating them from the doctrines of the Church of England as understood by himself. The prophetic, even apocalyptic, note of his preaching was particularly impressive. He prophesied "often with dark foreboding, but seeing through all unrest and convulsion the working out of a sure divine purpose." [5]Both at King's College and at Cambridge Maurice gathered a following of earnest students. He encouraged the habit of inquiry and research, more valuable than his direct teaching.
As a social reformer, Maurice was before his time, and gave his eager support to schemes for which the world was not ready. The condition of the city's poor troubled him; the magnitude of the social questions involved was a burden he could hardly bear. Working men of all opinions seemed to trust him even if their faith in other religious men and all religious systems had faded, and he had a power of attracting both the zealot and the outcast.
On Other Religions
Maurice also pioneered a re-thinking of the Christian attitude towards other faiths in his Boyce Lectures, published as The Religions of the World (1846). He began his lectures with the premise, itself shocking to many Christians at the time, that all religions have their origin in the divine. They stem, he argued, from some something that is better than their human followers, which sustains them despite human weakness. This ‘inner strength’ was not due to man’s own spiritual nature or faculties but to what he called ‘the higher ground’, or, anticipating Paul Tillich, ‘the ground of our being.’ [6]. Each religion, he suggested, stressed a vital aspect of divine truth while only Christianity holds all aspects together in absolute harmony. Christianity, in contact with other religions, can therefore supply the wholeness they need to become effectual. Christianity, though, like all systems, suffers decay and stands itself in need of the revitalization that contact with other faiths can supply. Therefore, if other faiths need Christianity, Christianity also needs them; thus theology of religions becomes a universal concern. Maurice reacted against Thomas Carlyle’s pantheism, although Carlyle’s psychological portrait of Muhammad was his principal source.
Maurice’s main contribution was the placing of a theology of religions that positively valued other faiths within a wider theological framework. Briefly, this centered on his profound conviction that God had both created and redeemed mankind. All are therefore ‘in Christ’ whether they know it or nor. Hindus and Muslims as well as Christians stand in a relationship with him. ‘Unity’, says biographer Florance Higham, ‘whether in a person or a people, was of the essence’ of Maurice’s understanding of the Gospel [7] Islam’s value, Maurice suggested, was its clear proclamation that God is and that he seeks men out. Islam emphasises the fact of God’s being and is most vital when proclaiming that fact. It degenerates, said Maurice, when it attempts to substitute ‘visions of His nature’ for that fact. This becomes fruitless speculation and results in Muslims becoming worshippers of a ‘dead necessity’ instead of witnesses of a ‘Living Being.’ [8] Maurice found little comfort in beliefs about God. Instead, he demanded belief in God, ‘unobstructed intercourse with the Deity.’ [9]
However, the Gospel’s picture of God’s nature as incarnate in Christ, if ‘grounded’ in a Muslim’s ‘original faith’ and not presented as a substitute for it, can ‘preserve the precious fragments of truth’ in Islam and, ‘forming them into a whole’, make it ‘effectual for the blessing of all lands over which it reigns.’ [10] Thus for Maurice, as for Forster, Islam possessed spiritual values and occupied a place in God’s providence. Christians need not, said Maurice, ‘regard its continuance wholly as a calamity.’ [11]
Works and Writings
The following are his most important works—some of these appeared in revised editions at later dates.
- Eustace Conway, or the Brother and Sister, a novel (1834)
- The Kingdom of Christ (1842)
- Christmas Day and Other Sermons (1843)
- The Unity of the New Testament (1844)
- The Epistle to the Hebrews (1846)
- The Religions of the World (1846)
- Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy (at first an article in the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, 1848)
- The Church a Family (1850)
- The Old Testament (1851)
- Theological Essays (1853)
- The Prophets and Kings of the Old Testament (1853)
- Lectures on Ecclesiastical History (1854)
- The Doctrine of Sacrifice (1854)
- The Patriarchs and Lawgivers of the Old Testament (1855)
- The Epistles of St John (1857)
- The Commandments as Instruments of National Reformation (1866)
- On the Gospel of St Luke (1868)
- The Conscience: Lectures on Casuistry (1868)
- The Lord's Prayer, a Manual (1870).
The greater part of these works were first delivered as sermons or lectures. Maurice also contributed many prefaces and introductions to the works of friends, as to Archdeacon Hare's Charges, Kingsley's Saint's Tragedy, etc. See Life by his son (2 vols., London, 1884), and a monograph by C. F. G. Masterman (1907) in “Leader of the Church” series; W. E. Collins in Typical English Churchmen, pp. 327-360 (1902), and T. Hughes in The Friendship of Books (1873).
Notes
<referecnes/>
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Higham, Florence Frederick Denison Maurice, London: SCM, 1947
- Maurice, F. D The Religions of the World, London: Macmillan, 1846
- Morris, Jeremy. F. D. Maurice and the Crisis of Christian Authority. Oxford University Press, 2005 ISBN 9780199263165
- Morris, Jermey To Build Christ’s kingdom: F D Maurice and His Writings. London: Canterbury Press, 2007 ISBN 9781853117770
Sanders, C. K (1942) Coleridge and the Broad Church Movement, Durham, N.C. Duke University Press.
- Vidler, Alexander Roper. 1948. Witness to the light F.D. Maurice's message for to-day. New York: Scribner's.
- ———. The theology of F.D. Maurice. London: SCM Press, 1948
- ———. F.D. Maurice and company. London: S.C.M. Press, 1966
- Young, David. F. D. Maurice and Unitarianism. Oxford: Clarendoan Press, 1992 ISBN 9780198263395
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
External links
- King's College: Frederick Maurice - Retrieved October 18, 2007.
- Selected works of F.D. Maurice online Retrieved November 2, 2007.
| Schools of economics |
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Classical Economics |
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Institutional economics · Stockholm school |
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- ↑ ”The Leaven of F. D Maurice”, Anglo-Catholic Socialism The Leaven of F D Maurice Retrieved November 2, 2007.
- ↑ “Frederick Denison Maurice”, Britannica 1911 Frederick Denison Maurice Retrieved November 2, 2007.
- ↑ ibid
- ↑ To the Rev. F. D Maurice’ , January 1854 To the Rev. F. D Maurice Retrieved November 2, 2007.
- ↑ Britannic 1911
- ↑ Maurice, 1846 p 25 – 26; Tillich, 1953, V1 p 49
- ↑ Higham, 1947 p 25
- ↑ Maurice, 1846 p 152
- ↑ Sanders, 1942 p 221
- ↑ Maurice, p 154
- ↑ ibid, p 23
