F. D. (Frederick Denison) Maurice was one of the most important and original Christian thinkers of the 19th century. He was born at Normanstone near Lowestoft in 1805 and died in 1872 after six years as Knightbridge Professor of Moral Theology at Cambridge. He was principled, insightful, curious, controversial and deeply influential. As the son of a Unitarian minister he felt unable to subscribe to the 39 Articles of Religion which meant that he successfully studied civil law at Cambridge but did not graduate. However, when he was 26 he felt a deep need for a personal deliverer and he was baptised into the Church of England- the crisis may have been brought on by the terminal illness of his sister. He was ordained in 1834 before becoming Chaplain to Guys Hospital in 1836. He wrote and lectured powerfully on Christian unity and the causes of Christian division and on the role the Church should play in the social issues facing the nation. He published The Kingdom of Christ in 1838 and the next years were rarely without controversy. For Maurice the signs of this kingdom are "the sacraments of baptism and the eucharist, to which must be added the creeds, the liturgy, the episcopate, and the scriptures—in fact, all the marks of catholicity as exemplified in the Church of England." He sought to apply Christian values to relationships and social expectations and support, being deeply committed to education for women and those in the working classes and a founder of the Christian Socialist Movement, helping to prepare the ground for trade unionism, theories of co-operation and the rise of the Labour Party in the 20th century. He married Anna Barton in 1838- they had two sons before her early death in 1845. He married Georgina Hare in 1849. In 1840 he became a Professor at King’s College, London- in 1853 he challenged the idea of hell as eternal punishment. He wouldn’t back down when challenged and King’s sacked him. His appointment to Cambridge in 1866 was a double restoration- to the academic role he had given up for his principles in 1853 at the university he had refused to graduate from because of his principles in 1827. His feast day is the 1st of April, the day on which he died in 1872. It was Easter Monday. He received communion, pronounced the blessing with great effort and died. How fully do we see the need for our faith to impact for good in the world? How ready are we to stand by our beliefs, even if the cost of standing is considerable?