To Build Christ's Kingdom: An F.D.Maurice Reader (Canterbury Studies in Spiritual Theology) - Softcover

Morris, Jeremy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1853117773 ISBN 13: 9781853117770

Publisher: Canterbury Press Norwich, 2007

Synopsis

Among the great thinkers and writers who have shaped the understanding and practice of Anglicanism, the influence of Frederick Denison Maurice (1805-72) is immense. The Anglicanism of F. D. Maurice's day was scarcely a distinct tradition at all It was simply the religion of the established Church in England, Wales and Ireland. Although it had been exported overseas with colonial expansion, there was as yet no notion of an Anglican Communion, while a series of crises between Church and State was undermining its status at home. Emerging Evangelical and Tracrarian movements were each trying to claim the soul of the Church for themselves and new approaches to biblical study were calling into question the very essentials of orthodox Christian belief Into all this stepped E D. Maurice who pioneered a creative response to the critical challenges of modernity and to theological disagreement. He established a pattern of reflection and negotiation, and introduced the concept of a Church that could he comprehensive. Today, these are the defining qualities of Anglicanism. Tr) him, the Anglican Church owes its theology of ministry, its doctrines of atonement, Incarnation and the Trinity, its ideas of heaven and hell, its exercise of social responsibility. He profoundly influenced the classic Anglican formula of 'scripture, creeds, sacrament and episopacy' which has guided Anglican approaches to inter,,church relations ever since. Maurice's original writing is engaging and exciting, imaginative and passionate. This reader draws on sermons, pamphlets as well as his classic texts. An introductory essay explores the man and his remarkable legacy. Jeremy Morris is Dean of Trinity Hall, Cambridge and is author of F D Maurice and the Crisis of Christian Authority (OUP). CANTERBURY STUDIES IN SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY collects together the writings of outstanding figures who have shaped core Anglican belief, practice and identity. The series makes available once again many classic texts, selected and edited for modern readers. At a time when the Church faces many challenges, from within its own ranks as well as from the secular world, this series aims to help clergy and laity alike think, act and respond to the complexities of the age with greater confidence.

About this title

Review:

'Morris has organised a great variety of texts in a way that will interest many readers to learn more about Maurice. Morris's reader provides an interesting collection of texts that will help the reader to appreciate the main issue of Maurice's theology and the vibrant commitment of his faith'. (The Living Church, October 2008)

Synopsis:

Frank Dennison Maurice (1805-72) was arguably the most significant Anglican thinker of the modern age, and the "Canterbury Spiritual Theology" series would be incomplete without a volume on this extraordinary figure and his immense influence on contemporary Anglican identity and understanding. Through a series of bruising encounters with his contemporaries, he pioneered a creative response to the critical challenges of modernity. Paying equal attention to contemporary criticism and orthodox Christian belief, he anticipated trends in later theology and set a pattern for reflection and negotiation that is familiar in Anglicanism today. In his work on the church's social witness, he founded Christian Socialism; in his writing on the doctrine of the church, he set out principles that remain central to Anglicanism today; he advocated a representative rather than a hierarchical theology of the ministry; and the established formula of 'Scripture, creeds, sacrament and episopacy' which has guided Anglican approaches to inter-church relations for a century is his work.

About this edition

• Publisher: Canterbury Press Norwich
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1853117773
• ISBN 13: 9781853117770
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 158