Frederick Denison Maurice

F. D. Maurice (1805–72), the widely published theologian and Christian socialist, served as both Professor of English Literature at King's College, London, and Professor of Moral Philosophy at Cambridge. He was a founding member of the Cambridge Apostles and later founded the Working Men's College in London. Most of Maurice's publications derive from his sermons and lectures. This book serves as an instructional guide to students of literature. The title is taken from the first lecture, in which Maurice argues that books 'help us in knowing ourselves - the part of history of our land, the people we are continually meeting. And any book that does that is surely a friend.' Subsequent chapters include 'On words', 'Ancient history' and 'On Christian civilization' as well as those with a more literary focus, on Spenser, Milton and Burke. The work was published posthumously in 1873; this third edition appeared in 1880.

The Religions of the World and Their Relations to Christianity (1847) derives from a series of eight lectures by the renowned theologian and political radical F. D. Maurice (1805–1872). They were given in a series established by Robert Boyle in 1691 as a stipulation of his will and intended 'for proving the Christian Religion against notorious Infidels'. Maurice both abides by and transforms this charge, examining 'the great Religious Systems … not going into their details … but enquiring what was their main characteristical principle.' In this important early work of comparative religious scholarship, Maurice investigates the theological foundations of the major world religions - Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism - as well as what he calls the 'defunct' faiths of ancient Greek, Rome, Egypt, Persia and Scandinavia. The resulting text is a rich work of theological enquiry and a valuable testament to a central nineteenth-century religious thinker.