F.D. Maurice is now recognised as the most influential nineteenth-century English liberal thinker. Theological Essays, first published in 1853, is the formal and mature statement of the theological beliefs that underlie his social thinking. He was more than a man of brilliant intellect – he was utterly dedicated – and his religious beliefs were ground in the mill of his own experience.

Maurice was never afraid to look unpleasant facts in the face, and his intellectual honesty challenges modern man no less than it did his own generation. His theology remains relevant, for he was always painfully conscious of the stresses and strains, failures and anxieties that make up day-to-day human experience.

Introduction

1. On Charity
2. On Sin
3. On the Evil Spirit
4. On the Sense of Righteousness in Men, and their Discovery of a Redeemer
5. On the Son of God
6. On the Incarnation
7. On the Atonement
8. On the Resurrection of the Son of God from Death, the Grave, and Hell
9. On Justification by Faith
10. On Regeneration
11. On the Ascension of Christ
12. On Judgement Day
13. On Inspiration
14. On the Personality and Teaching of the Holy Spirit
15. On the Unity of the Church
16. On the Trinity in Unity

Concluding Essay – On Eternal Life and Eternal Death

   Introduction » (PDF, 480 KB)
   Extract from Chapter 4: On the Sense of Righteousness in Men » (PDF, 311 KB)

Frederick Denison Maurice studied at Trinity College (Cambridge) and at Exeter College (Oxford). He was appointed Professor of English Literature and History and later became Professor of Theology at King's College London. He founded Queen's College for Women.