John Henry Newman E-Book

Ryan J. Marr

• Herausgeber: anna ruggieri
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

This small volume introduces readers to John Henry Newman’s wiring, theology, and thought.
Blessed Newman, the 19th-century’s most important English-speaking Catholic theologian, spent the first half of his life as an Anglican and the second half as a Roman Catholic. He was a priest, popular preacher, writer, and eminent theologian in both Churches.
Before Newman, Catholic theology tended to ignore history, preferring instead to draw deductions from first principles. After Newman, the lived experience of believers was recognized as a key part of theological reflection. Newman eventually wrote 40 books and 21,000 letters that survive. He has been called the “absent Father of Vatican II” because he was a strong influence in the shaping of the Council’s documents through his writings on conscience, religious liberty, Scripture, the vocation of lay people, the relation of Church and State, and other topics. Although he was not always completely understood or appreciated, he steadfastly preached the Good News by word and example.
This small volume, part of the Ex libris series, offers an affordable and accessible introduction to Newman’s theology. While other publications focus on Newman’s biography or present high-level scholarly discussions of his thought, this book hones in on some of the most important quotations from Newman’s writings and organizes them to facilitate regular devotional reflection. A set of discussion questions in the back of the book also makes it a handy title for use in small faith formation groups.
Sections include faith, holiness, the Incarnate Word, Our Lady, a good death, trust in divine providence, continuing in the school of John Henry Newman, and a helpful bibliography.
Compiled by Ryan Marr, director of the National Institute for Newman Studies and associate editor of the Newman Studies Journal, this book will awaken an interest in this influential thinker and possible future saint.

Leseprobe

Praise for John Henry Newman

“Dr. Marr’s book is timely and certain to be well received. The collection of readings from Newman’s vast number of works is arranged thematically and is helpful to the reader who is seeking a brief introduction to Newman’s thought. It is also suitable for lectio divina, a contemplative reading of the texts. Dr. Marr’s introduction, with its personal reflections, provides a context that will draw the reader into Newman’s life and thought, and helps to explain why Saint John Henry Newman matters today.”

—Kenneth L. Parker, Ryan Endowed Chair for Newman Studies, Duquesne University

“Saint John Henry Newman is considered one of the most prolific and accomplished theological writers in modern Church history. He wrote extensively on almost every aspect of our faith together with engaging prose. And yet, so little is known about his remarkable teachings. Fortunately, through Mr. Marr’s book we now have greater access to Newman’s works as he has expertly selected many relevant portions from them, guiding us through the many challenges we all face today. Surely an assortment of the best of our beloved Cardinal.”

—Deacon Jack Sullivan, Pembroke, Massachusetts, recipient of Newman’s first miracle leading to his beatification

“Dr. Marr’s engagement with Newman in this collection of writings is both scholarly and deeply personal. The volume draws together the saint’s incisive intellect and pastoral sensitivities unlike any other that I have encountered. One would be hard-pressed to find a better introduction to Newman’s spirit in so few pages.”

—C. Michael Shea, author of Newman’s Early Roman Catholic Legacy, 1845–1854.

“God has given us John Henry Newman for precisely these times in the Church. Every Catholic will find in his writings a remedy for many of the ills that beset us. This book offers us a wonderful place to begin a journey with Newman. In it, you will encounter the straightforward clarity of a shepherd and the fiery love of a saint.”

—Meghan Cokeley, Director of the Office for the New Evangelization, Archdiocese of Philadelphia

“This book exudes the spirit of Saint Newman, which Marr expounds so thoroughly and insightfully in the introduction. It pleads with the reader, not merely to ponder, but to act in light of what the saint proclaims. The field of Newman studies is so often lost in insular plodding. This book mines the core of Newman’s urgent appeal to the reader’s inmost self—through its lean, incisive selections, heart truly calls to heart!”

—Bo Bonner, Director of Mission, Mercy College of Health Sciences

John Henry Newman

Compiled by Ryan Marr

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019943678

CIP data is available.

ISBN-10:0-8198-4038-6

ISBN-13:978-0-8198-4038-7

The Scripture quotations contained herein are directly quoted from works written by John Henry Newman.

Excerpts from papal and magisterium texts copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Some alterations have been made to the punctuation that Newman used so as to bring the text into closer conformity with contemporary rules of grammar. None of these changes affects the meaning of the quotations.

Cover design by Rosana Usselmann

Cover photo: © National Portrait Gallery, London

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

“P” and PAULINE are registered trademarks of the Daughters of St. Paul.

Introduction and appendix copyright © 2019, Ryan Marr

Edition copyright © 2019, Daughters of St. Paul

Published by Pauline Books & Media, 50 Saint Pauls Avenue, Boston, MA 02130-3491

www.pauline.org

Pauline Books & Media is the publishing house of the Daughters of St. Paul, an international congregation of women religious serving the Church with the communications media.

To Dr. Kenneth Parker, who has taught me most of what I know about Newman, and whose scholarship in service to the Church is an example to many.

Contents

Introduction

FAITH

1 Faith, a Gift of God

2 The Church, the Oracle of God

3 Assent

4 Looking to God, Our Source of Comfort

5 Faith in Action

HOLINESS

6 Grace

7 A Religion of Practice, Not Sentiment

8 Prompt Obedience

9 The Warfare Between the Church and the World

10 The Value of One Single Soul

11 Sin, the Mortal Enemy of the All-Holy

12 Conversion

13 Prayer

14 Regularity in Prayer

15 Fix Your Hearts on Higher Things

THE INCARNATE WORD

16 The Ancient of Days

17 Fully Human, Fully Divine

18 A Willing Victim

19 Because He First Loved Us

20 The Voluntary Suffering of Our Lord

OUR LADY

21 Mary, Our Pattern of Faith

22 A Daughter of Eve Unfallen

23 The Immaculate Conception

24 Clothed with the Sun, Crowned with the Stars

25 Exalted for the Sake of Her Son

26 Guardian of Orthodoxy

27 On the Fitness of the Glories of Mary

28 Intercessor for the Church Militant

29 Our Lady of Sorrows

A GOOD DEATH

30 Christ’s Presence with Us at Death

31 Illuminating Grace

32 One Glance of Thee Sufficeth

33 The Thought of God, the Stay of the Soul

HOLDING FAST TO THE TRUTH

34 On the Development of Doctrine

35 Resistance to the Spirit of Liberalism

36 An Intelligent and Well-Instructed Laity

37 The Infidelity of the Future

38 The Passion and the Pride of Man

39 Conscience

40 Conscience, the Aboriginal Vicar of Christ

41 Counterfeit Conscience

TRUST IN DIVINE PROVIDENCE

42 A Link in a Chain

43 We Are Not Our Own

44 Christ the King

45 He Calls Thee by Name

46 Not for Us to Know the Times and the Seasons

47 Stand Still and See the Salvation of God

Continuing in the School of John Henry Newman

Ex Libris

Notes

Bibliography

Introduction

When John Henry Newman (1801–1890) was made a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church in 1879, he took as his motto the phrase Cor ad cor loquitur—which translated means, “Heart speaks to heart.” As someone who has spent many hours poring over Newman’s writings, this phrase has always meant a great deal to me. I’ve been reading Newman for over a decade now, but my fascination with his work has never been a matter of merely historical interest. Newman’s voice, as many recognized during his lifetime, was destined to endure long after his death. As with the works of other saintly theologians, there is something perpetually alive, and life-giving, about the essays and sermons that Newman left us. In this respect, I concur with Muriel Spark who once remarked that, “[Newman] is far less dead, to me, than many of my contemporaries.”1Among the many friends in my life, Newman is near the top of the list in terms of having shaped the way that I view God, and it was largely through his influence that I was led into the Catholic Church.

I first encountered Newman’s work while wrapping up graduate studies at Duke Divinity School, where I was preparing to become a Protestant minister. During my final semester at Duke, I was doing some side-reading as a break from my normal course of studies, when an article by Rusty Reno in the journal First Things (“Out of the Ruins”) inspired me to look more closely at Newman’s conversion from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism. What I found in Newman’s writings did in fact speak to my heart and, frankly, shook me to the core. While Newman could be incredibly nuanced in his treatment of a given theological topic, he also had a profound gift for cutting right to the heart of a matter. Imagine being on the verge of entering Protestant ministry and reading Newman’s blunt observation that, “To be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant.”2 Needless to say, upon reading this I had to investigate the claim for myself. I knew that I could not remain a dispassionate handler of Newman’s theological heritage; this was a writer who demanded a response from his readers.

Newman’s writings possess this quality, I believe, because of the way that he understood his vocation as a theologian. There is a venerable Christian maxim that says, “The theologian is one who prays. And if you pray truly, you will be a theologian.” Unfortunately, in our own day, there are far too many academic theologians who are indifferent to this idea and who go about teaching theology without necessarily being grounded in a life of prayer. This kind of approach would have been completely foreign to Newman. One of his personal mottos was, “Life is for action,”3 and on more than one occasion he warned others that there was a real danger in being inspired by an idea or work of art but then failing to translate that inspiration into action. As applied to theology, this statement reminds us that the study of God can never be a merely intellectual endeavor. Prayer, as Newman recognized, is the lifeblood of authentic theology. To study the truths of the faith without regularly turning to prayer is not only empty but perilous. “Our God is a consuming fire”4 and has to be approached with due reverence if we are to avoid idolatrous understandings of the Divine.