v. 1. General introduction to the study of Newman's philosophy.--v. 2. The text.

We thank Parker and Wright for engaging in this roundtable debate in such a spirited way. The ‘Pharmacogenetic [test] to Avoid Loss of Hearing’ (PALOH) Trial is the first time a genetic point of care test has been applied in the acute neonatal setting; therefore, it is not surprising that questions have been raised which require debate, discussion and clarification. Parker and Wright misattribute several assumptions to the roundtable authors, which we would like to clarify here. Since they raise wider (...) questions about the PALOH trial itself, several of the roundtable discussants have made a joint response. (shrink)

The religious autobiography of John Henry Newman (1801-1890), in which he discusses his conversion to Roman Catholicism.

v. 1. General introduction to the study of Newman's philosophy.--v. 2. The text.

This classic of Christian apologetics seeks to persuade the skeptic that there are good reasons to believe in God even though it si impossible to understand the Deity fully. First written over a century ago, the _Grammar of Assent _speaks as powerfully to us today as it did to its first readers. Because of the informal, non-technical character of Newman's work, it still retains its immediacy as an invaluable guide to the nature of religious belief. An introduction by Nicholas (...) Lash reviews the background of the _Grammar, _highlights its principal themes, and evaluates its philosophical originality. (shrink)

Throughout his career as a theologian, deacon, priest and cardinal, John Henry Newman remained a committed believer in the value of education. A graduate of Trinity College, Oxford, his own academic experiences shaped his friendships, politics and faith. His Discourses, delivered initially as a series of lectures when he was rector of the newly-established Catholic University of Ireland, inspired a generation of young and talented Catholic scholars. Providing an intelligent but accessible analysis of the relationship between theology and (...) other academic disciplines, the lectures were celebrated in the popular press for dispensing instruction to those who 'had no traditions to guide them in forming a correct estimate of what a university ought to be'. Newman argued that a university should foster the 'diffusion and extension of knowledge' rather than religious or moral training, and that it should prepare students for life in the world. (shrink)

This insightful selection, features four discourses from The Idea of a University: Knowledge Its Own End; Knowledge Viewed in Relation to Learning; Knowledge Viewed in Relation to Professional Skill; and Knowledge Viewed in Relation to Religion. Also included are excerpts from the "Preface" and the following appendices: Discipline of Mind; Literature and Science; and Style. Edited by Leo L. Ward, this volume also contains an introduction, a list of principal dates in Newman's life, and a bibliography.

The essays in this volume were written when John Henry Newman was a Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. He wrote the first, on biblical miracles "The Miracles of Scripture," in 1825-26, as a relatively young man; the other, "The Miracles of Early Ecclesiastical History," was written in 1842-43. A comparison of the two essays displays a shift in Newman's theological stances. In the earlier essay, Newman argues in accordance with the theology of evidence of his time, (...) maintaining that the age of miracles was limited to those recorded in the Old Testament scriptures and in the Gospels and Acts. He asserts that biblical miracles served to demonstrate the divine inspiration of biblical revelation and to attest to the divinity of Christ. However, with the end of the apostolic age, the age of miracles came to an end; miracles reported from the early ages of the Church Newman dismissed as suspicious and possibly fraudulent. With this view, Newman entered into an ongoing debate between the skepticism of Hume and Paine and its continuation in the utilitarianism of Bentham, on the one hand, and the views of Christian apologists rebutting Hume's arguments, on the other. In "The Miracles of Early Ecclesiastical History," Newman can be seen as coming closer to accepting the doctrines of the Catholic Church. He rejects the stance he took in "The Miracles of Scripture," now arguing for a continuity of sacred history between the biblical and ecclesiastical periods. He had clearly abandoned the position of "evidence theologians" that miracles ended after the time of the Apostles. Newman's movement between the writing of the two essays is essentially a growing into a deeper awareness of the Church as a divine society in whose life miracles and supernatural gifts were to be expected. (shrink)

John Henry Newman (1801–1890) is well known for An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine (1845), while Charles Darwin (1809–1882) is famous for On the Origin of Species (1859). Although many Victorian theologians and ecclesiastics attacked Darwin’s theory of evolution, this essay shows that Newman considered evolution compatible with Christianity.

I discuss John Henry Newman's correspondence with William Froude, F.R.S., (1810–79) and his family. Froude remained an unbeliever, and I argue that Newman's disputes with him about the ethics of belief and the relationship between religion and science not only reveal important aspects of his thought, but also anticipate modern discussions on foundationalism, the ethics of beliefs and scientism.

John Henry Newman (1801–1890) was deeply influenced by the British empiricist school of the eighteenth century, particularly by the philosophy of David Hume(1711–1776). Though frequently disputing Hume’s conclusions, Newman nevertheless worked to develop a theistic form of empiricism that integrated the developing scientific worldview with traditional Christian philosophy. In light of recently renewed interest in Hume, this essay first explores Newman’s empiricist leanings and then proposes that his distinctive philosophy can contribute to modern discussions about the (...) relationship of science and religion. (shrink)

Long, Kevin Review(s) of: John Henry Newman: A developing spirituality, by Austin Cooper OMI, (Strathfield, St Paul's Publications, 2012), pp.192, $24.95.

Does John Henri Newman also suffer from the ‘anti-trinitarian fearfulness’ Karl Rahner sees as a characteristic feature of western theology? Rahner refers with that disqualification to a tendency in theology to prefer the gifts of the Spirit to the gift of the Spirit and to the metaphorical interpretation of texts about indwelling. Two texts by Newman are analysed: a Pentecost sermon on indwelling and his Lectures on Justification. In the sermon there is no sign of that anti-trinitarian fearfulness. (...) But since that sermon could be viewed as an occasional piece, the more wide ranging Lectures are also analysed. In these Lectures Newman argues that both the protestant and catholic theologians are too quickly satisfied in their discussions of justification, since they are pointing either to faith or to spiritual renovation, since they take not into consideration the basis of both faith and renovation: the presence of the Spirit. Moreover, he argues explicitly for a literal understanding of the biblical text about indwelling. Newman is often seen as the invisible peritus of the Second Vatican Council. On the basis of the texts analysed one can argue that he can be considered a forerunner for the current renaissance of the theology of the Trinity as well, be it that more research needs to be done to give this conclusion a broader basis. (shrink)

Reason has reasons of which ‘reason’ knows nothing. It was this essential insight, along with the methodological prioritisation of a phenomenology of cognition and the recognition of the epistemological distinctiveness of judgment, that a young Bernard Lonergan gleaned from his study of John Henry Newman's Grammar of Assent. Given that the ‘later’, post‐Insight (1953) Lonergan enacted a more explicit transposition of his thought into a hermeneutical and existential framework, one might be tempted to assume that this coincided with (...) a drift away from his tutelage under the nineteenth‐century Englishman. Indeed, an examination of the secondary literature detailing their relationship would suggest as much. Yet, in the hope of contributing to the regrettably sparse Newman‐Lonergan scholarship and proposing a modest recalibration therein, I argue that the more existential, hermeneutical, and committed to the philosophical turn to concrete socio‐historical subjectivity Lonergan grew, the more fruit his early Newmanian formation bore. By analysing Newman's proto‐Lonerganian anticipations in the areas of self‐appropriation, conversion, the relationship of subjectivity to objectivity, and the hermeneutical nature of consciousness, I will contend that Newman—a presciently continental mind writing as one untimely born into an analytical milieu—was the wellspring from which Lonergan never ceased to draw. (shrink)

Cooper, Austin John Henry Newman was born in 1801, converted to the Catholic Church in 1845 and died in 1890. That is, he spent the first half of his life in the Church of England. He was to exercise a profound influence on both Communions in Australia. The young Newman was elected a Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, in April 1822. Despite the declining fortunes of his family, his own career was off to a promising start. Two (...) years later he was ordained Deacon at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford on 13 June 1824. This was a very solemn commitment indeed. He thought he should give himself totally to the service of the Gospel. This attitude prompted him to write to the CMS (the Church Missionary Society) in London seeking information regarding service as a missionary. He followed up his letter with a visit to the CMS London Headquarters on July 3, 1824 - just two weeks after his ordination as deacon. (shrink)

This article, which was originally presented at the annual conference of the Venerable John Henry Newman Association in Mundelein, Illinois, in August 2004, portrays Newman as anticipating three aspects of postmodernism:the question of epistemological foundations, the role of theology in the academy, and a conversational model of truth.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:BOOK REVIEWS 387 and contributed an important and helpful study. This dissertation is a model of its kind. One hopes the author will continue his scholarly efforts. The Catholic University of America Washington, D.C. WILLIAM E. MAY John Henry Newman: A Biography. By IAN KER. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. Pp. xii + 764. $24.95 (paper). The Achievement of John Henry Newman. By IAN (...) KER. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1990. Pp. x + 209. $24.95 (cloth). Ian Ker has inherited the mantle of the late Charles Stephen Dessain as the finest textual expositor of the Newman corpus, and Ker's biography should become a standard reference tool in the field. Ker ap· prenticed under Dessain in the production of the monumental (31volume ) Letters and Diaries, and his biography shows his command of the materials of that as yet unfinished project. Ker's hook joins the biographies of W. Ward (1912) and M. Trevor (1962) as significant "lives of Newman" to consider, and it addresses their earlier shortcomings : Ward's inadequate appraisal of the Anglican Newman and Trevor's unconcern for Newman's theological writings. Of Newman's intellectual contribution, Ker's treatment is similar to Dessain's John Henry Newman, an exposition of the major themes and intellectual moves, and theologically-minded inquirers need read both. Ker offers the hook as a personal life, a literary appraisal, and an intellectual study. The personal life and literary analysis are ably carried off; Ker's background in English literature and his editorial work on the letters have served him well. The intellectual study takes the form of synopses of Newman's hooks and articles, which are woven into the chronological narrative of the life. This aspect of Ker's hook is by no means "the theological achievement of JHN" (cf. Tracy's work on Lonergan); such a project still awaits Newman studies and someone of the conceptual breadth of the late Jan Walgrave to achieve it. Ker provides accurate and readable summaries of Newman's writings, and if a biography is meant to introduce the sundry aspects of a person, especially a complex thinker like Newman, then Ker's treatment of the intellectual aspect offers a fine introduction. I shall consider these three dimensions of the biography, and first the personal life. Newman considered that a person's life is best told 888 BOOK REVIEWS through that person's correspondence. Ker's biography is approached chronologically, and Newman's published letters guide the tale. Newman 's advice is particularly apropos for his own biographer, since Newman 's hooks and articles often displayed a "reserve" in which his true feelings were couched and nuanced. His letters, especially to confidants, were candid and often hard-hitting, as when he described the Curia in these words: " And who is Propaganda? one sharp man of business, who works day and night, and dispatches his work quick off, to the East and West, a high dignitary, [perhaps an Archbishop], hut after all little more than a clerk... with two or.three clerks under him " (p. 519). (Ker displays some reserve himself, omitting Newman's episcopal aside.) Ker's use of the letters is most revealing during Newman's Roman Catholic period when he encountered opposition from Archbishop Manning and W. G. Ward in England, from Archbishop Cullen in Dublin, and from Cardinal Barnaho in Rome. One senses how the laity rallied round him. Some of Newman's most pungent thoughts on ·theological freedom, on the suspicious nature of the clergy toward educated laity, on the wherewithal to make an institution a genuine university, on the role of patience and.trust in God when authorities are hearing down, are to he found in Ker's choice of letters. With so much material to mine-Newman wrote 20,000 letters-it is understandable that Ker does not include, save rarely, what Newman's opponents were thinking. Ker's account of Newman's Anglican period is equally illuminating, and indeed it is a highlight of the biography. While the Apologia has provided the main lines of the story, Ker puts flesh and hones to Newman 's struggle with his conscience. In coming to Oxford, Newman... (shrink)

This essay examines the contrasting conceptualizations of reason in the thought of John Henry Newman and Andrew Martin Fairbairn in their articles published in The Contemporary Review in 1885. This essay articulates both Fairbairn’s charge of philosophical scepticism against Newman as well as Newman’s defense of his position and concomitantly details Fairbairn’s and Newman’s competing notions of the efficacy of reason to provide reliable knowledge of God. The positions of Fairbairn and Newman remain two (...) of the most important perspectives on the role of reason in the acquisition of knowledge about God in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Christian theology. (shrink)

This essay is a theological interpretation of John Henry Newman’s 1877 Preface to the third edition of the Via Media of the Anglican Church. Looking at the 1877 Preface through the lens of his earlier Anglican sermons, particularly his Parochial and Plain Sermons, this essay explores Newman’s general pneumatology and its influence on his ecclesiology and considers the spirituality underlying Newman’s Christocentric and Trinitarian vision of the Church as a mutually informing and correcting symbiosis of the (...) spiritual, theological, and hierarchical dimensions of Christian faith. (shrink)

John Henry Newman is known for his consistent, coherent, and sincere thought on the questions of faith that were important to him and his communities. Newman shares philosophical and theological reflections in many works, such as, a complex analysis of philosophical and theological aspects of faith and a subtle articulation of infallibility. Yet, Newman provides relatively little on the Eucharist. As a Tractarian, Newman raises the philosophical issue of presence in the Eucharist, distinguishes between local (...) and real presence, and articulates his faith in the latter. As an Oratorian, Newman does not write a treatise on the Eucharist. Instead, Newman's thoughts on the Eucharist are mostly contained within prayers, devotions, meditations, and some passing commentary on the liturgy, rites, and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. Through a close reading of these texts, it is suggested that Newman provides a case study for the reflecting on the truth of dogma because of his incisive articulation of the sacramental presence of God in the Eucharist and his response to the use of the philosophical notion of transubstantiation. (shrink)

This chapter considers the epistemology of John Henry Newman, arguing that it has merits which are quite independent of the religious purpose that was his overarching aim in developing it. For Newman, epistemology was part of ‘psychology’ which, like Frege, he separated off from logic. Dissenting from Locke’s view that there are degrees of assent, Newman’s main concern was to argue that assent on evidence short of intuition or demonstration may well be legitimate, and frequently is (...) so. For Newman certitude is indefectible; If we are certain of a belief, we resolve to maintain it and we spontaneously reject as idle any objections to it. The chapter concludes with a consideration of Newman’s view of religious faith. (shrink)

John Henry Newman’s educational ideas, which first became known in Japan before the Pacific War, continue to attract followers, especially as a result of the foundation of the Newman Society of Japan in 1983. However, this interest in Newman has had mixed results: on the one hand, some Japanese secular scholars who have tried to adopt Newman’s educational ideas to Japanese higher education do not seem interested in Catholicism. On the other hand, some post-war educational (...) ideas of Japanese Catholics seem incompatible with Newman’s spirituality and thought. (shrink)

By the late 1830s, John Henry Newman and Edward Bouverie Pusey were discussing the re-introduction of monastic/religious life into the Church of England. Though Newman did not remain in the Church of England long enough to see the full flowering of this effort, his writings as an Anglican theologian reveal that he viewed the monastic/religious life as a central way in which a person could grow in holiness and also a means of fostering the holiness of the (...) Church as a whole. (shrink)

An examination of the emotional rejection of the cultural and intellectual force of science that threatened the acceptance of revelation as the true measure of human nature and only basis for religion by prominent Christian theologian John Henry Newman. Newman argued from the pulpit and in writing as a member of the Church of England early in his career and later as a Catholic cardinal, that science violated religious dogma and negated the authority of the Church under (...) the guise of obtaining information only God could possess. Deeply pessimistic, he criticized the British Association for the Advancement of Science for legitimizing natural theology, embracing the optimistic view of man’s ability to improve life through discovery, and advocating ecumenical and commercial aspects of scientific knowledge. Newman called for contemporary Christians to maintain their obedience to God, reject natural theology as a true religion, refuse to substitute science for religion, and dismiss the belief that advancing knowledge could lead to a higher religious standard. (shrink)

Newman was a profoundly skilled communicator of Christian faith who provides a model for an efficacious elucidation of the doctrinal content and transformative power of Christianity. His exemplarity resides in his three-dimensional approach to theological communication: (1) the communicator’s personal investment in faith’s import; (2) faith’s threefold nature that includes its doctrinal content, its demand for personal involvement, and its reasonableness; and (3) the audience’s active contribution to the process of faith-transmission. Although repeated emphasis upon subjective commitment goes against (...) the modern penchant for objectivity, it is precisely this subjective component, which requires open minds and open hearts, that plays a decisive role in the concomitant adherence to the objective reality and reliability of faith’s wisdom. (shrink)

After considering the meaning of “wisdom” in the Hellenic and Semitic Traditions, this essay examines Newman’s views about “worldly wisdom” in both a practical and a philosophical sense and then considers “holy wisdom” as contemplative and transcendent.

This article looks at Newman’s treatment of superstition in the early Church in his revised edition of An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine and compares it to the way the Whig historians treated superstition in their work, in order to show how the historian in Newman demonstrates how first-century and nineteenth- century perceptions of superstition reaffirm the continuity of the Roman Catholic Church.