A Guide to John Henry Newman: His Life and Thought
Juan R Vélez (ed)
Catholic University of America Press,$75, 448 pages
Just when you thought all the books about John Henry Newman had been written, along comes this enormous offering from Fr Juan Vélez: huge in scope and in the breadth of its contributors, who come from the US, UK, France, Spain, Australia and Macao. Fr Vélez makes a point of noting in his introduction that the purpose of the essays is “to advance scholarship on Newman in keeping with his well-deserved place of honour” – which is to say his relatively new status as a canonised saint of the Church.
This is significant because, as Fr Vélez observes, there have been some scholars who have sought either to denigrate him or speculate that all may not have been as it seems. He names the late Frank Turner’s John Henry Newman: The Challenge to Evangelical Religion (Yale University Press, 2001) as an example of a book which may demonstrate that “intense dislike of a subject impedes a fair appraisal”. In the more recent Oxford Handbook of John Henry Newman, edited by Frank D Aquino and Benjamin J King (OUP, 2018), Peter Nockles noted that Turner had effectively set out to prove that Newman was a liar.
There is none of that here. Like Newman, many of the writers are converts from Protestantism. Others are well-established Catholic dignitaries: chief among them Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP, Cardinal Pell’s successor at Sydney. The others include ten priests, a monsignor and a deacon. They are, however, outnumbered by the laity. All bring their particular expertise to their consideration of the life, work and legacy of this engaging man of whose work Pope Benedict was so fond, and whom he beatified on his 2010 visit to the UK.
There are two sections: the first is titled simply “John Henry Newman” and includes chapters about the Oxford Movement (out of which Newman and many other converts came), Newman’s ongoing conversions that lasted his whole lifetime, his wide-ranging imagination, his calling to celibacy, his male and female friendships, his scholarship and teaching, poetry, philosophy and spirituality, and the foundation of the Oratory in England. The second part deals with his doctrine, which in his lifetime caused him so much worry – the granting of his cardinal’s hat in 1879 was an honour, but also a relief.
Inevitably, this is where things get a bit more intense. Faith and reason; conscience, relativism and truth; intellectualism and historicism; theology, spirituality and morality; soteriology; Mariology; ecclesiology; liberalism – these are topics on which Newman had much to say in his lifetime, and on which he has much to say now when approached by the right people. Fr Vélez’s own chapter on Newman and his understanding of the role of the laity in the Church is particular timely at this time of synodal consultation: exciting or concerning, depending where you sit.
It is not exhaustive – how could it be? As for future Newman scholarship, Fr Vélez writes: “we can aspire to integrate historical research on his contemporaries and his unpublished texts with the theological, philosophical, and literary analysis of his thought. More study of the influence he received from Anglican and Catholic sources will provide a better appreciation for his work. It is also to be desired that his contribution to other areas of study, such as biblical exegesis, liturgy and poetry, will be borne out.”
This is a generous sentiment, for even after all this time, Newman still seems to be up for grabs: it will be interesting to see who will fill the gap left by Fr Ian Ker, Newman’s best-known interpreter, who died last year. Nevertheless, what Fr Vélez and his colleagues have tried to do is present “the rich and varied teaching drawn from Newman’s life and work, and to offer some new insights to this body of doctrine… in a positive manner, respectful of differences of opinion, but fully convinced of Newman’s integrity, spiritual greatness, and orthodoxy.”
They have done this painstakingly and with great success, and despite its daunting size, this volume deserves patient engagement. No one who wants to understand Newman more deeply, or learn more about what he has to say to today’s Church, should be without it.
Catherine Maybanks teaches religious studies in Southampton, UK
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