William WilberforceWilliam Wilberforce (1759-1833) was a British statesman, social reformer, evangelical Christian, and one of the most important public moral figures of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Britain. A long-serving Member of Parliament, he is bst remembered for his leadership in the parliamentary campaign to abolish the British slave trade, a struggle that helped lead to the Slave Trade Act of 1807. His public career combined political persistence, religious conviction, humanitarian concern, and a belief that Christian faith must bear directly upon social responsibility.Wilberforce's influence extended beyond politics into the religious and moral life of Britain. Associated with the evangelical reform circle often called the Clapham Sect, he worked alongside figures committed to abolition, missionary activity, prison reform, education, and the moral renewal of public life. A Practical View became his most influential religious work, setting out the difference between nominal Christianity and what he regarded as living, practical faith. The book remains significant for readers of Christian theology, evangelical history, religious ethics, Anglican thought, and the moral foundations of reform movements. Read More Read Less