NEWMAN, JOHN HENRY.   Term Paper ID:21311 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Life & career of 19th Cent. Roman Catholic theologian & cardinal & author of autobiographical [Apologia pro Vita Sua].... More...

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Paper Abstract: Life & career of 19th Cent. Roman Catholic theologian & cardinal & author of autobiographical [Apologia pro Vita Sua]. Paper Introduction: John Henry Newman was a major figure in the development of Roman Catholicism in England in the nineteenth century, and indeed he exercised a vital influence on the religious life of the nation. Newman left numerous writings about his life and his theology, and these have been influential ever since. His autobiography, Apologia pro Vita Sua, details his spiritual journey and the development of the theological thought that caused him to change his religious affiliation from the Anglican church to the Roman Catholic Church. In his autobiography, Cardinal Newman not only discusses the strength of his conversion and the nature of his spiritual shift, but also provides a strong defense of Catholicism against its critics and against those who would challenge his thought because of the conversion he underwent. Included in the work is an account of his role in the Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. [7]Ibid., 16-17. this would also lead to the first public event in which Newman wasinvolved as he led opposition to the election of Robert Peel, who advocateda bill that was called the Catholic Emancipation Act and that would make itpossible for Roman Catholics to vote , to sit in Parliament, and to holdmost civil and military offices. New York: Doubleday, 1956.----------------------- [1]Philip Hughes, "Introduction," in John Henry Cardinal Newman,Apologia pro Vita Sua (New York: Doubleday, 1956), 7. Hewas said to have progressed in his studies at a pace more rapid than othersin his class, and he read constantly, keeping notes in a diary faithfully.He also wrote poems, dramas, operas, and for two school papers. Newman was in the midst of this intellectual renewalat Oxford and pursued his studies with intensity.[7] Newman next went to Oriel College, the institution known for havingthe most engaging intellectuals at Oxford, and it was during this periodthat he was transformed by Richard Whately from a bashful youth into anindependent and brilliant thinker. Clement's and St. All over the world, though,Anglicanism is found to be in rivalry to the Catholica. The faculty presented the elements of theology in a systematicmanner. His autobiography, Apologia pro Vita Sua, details hisspiritual journey and the development of the theological thought thatcaused him to change his religious affiliation from the Anglican church tothe Roman Catholic Church. Newman, the adult, had a need to reflect back on Newman, the child, to see himself more clearly.[2]Newman was born in 18 1 in London. [15]Newman, 247. [21]Ibid., 125. [12]Newman, 163-164. John Keble would be the next important influenceon Newman's development. Newman saw this as the start of a religious movement: The clarion call was sounded; the Oxford Movement began. [9]Ibid., 23-24. He wasnot a stylist for its own sake but always shaped his style to the importantelement--the message he was trying to convey. The Anglican Church sought to force him to retract his writing.More charges followed: From the end of 1841, I was on my death-bed, as regards my membership with the Anglican Church, though at the time I became aware of it only by degrees.[15]In his writings, Newman put two questions to the Anglican Church which havenot lost their importance: 1) Does the ambition of the church of England tobe national lead it to feel so relatively indifferent to the claims of theuniversal as to have the unconscious consequences that Anglicans make theirChurch correspond to what the English want to believe about themselves?;and 2) The Anglican Communion claims to be a branch of the one Catholicabut does not always know to behave as such, and the Thirty-Nine Articles donot assert the pope to be Antichrist. Newman then saw both the Roman Catholic Church and the ProtestantChurch as extremes, while the Anglican Church was an acceptable mean: The Anglican church stood in the safe, middle way between these extreme positions; it had remained faithful to the original apostolic church; and its presentation of unblemished divine truth throughout the centuries made it the true church.[13] Newman's defense of Catholicism developed from a defense of theAnglican Church. He states in the Apologia thathis fight was with liberalism, meaning the anti-dogmatic principle and itsdevelopments: The main principle of the Movement is as dear to me now, as it ever was. The family consistedof three boys and three girls and belonged to the middle class.[3] Newman's formal education began in 18 8 at a private school atEaling, and there his scholarship and leadership abilities surfaced. [13]Ibid., 34. Many Anglicans renewed their friendship with him after holding aloof for twenty years. . He deemed his knowledge of Catechism to be perfect as he was raisedin the Anglican church, but he also admitted that he was not deeplyreligious in childhood, by which he meant that he did not perceive the truemeaning of loving God and had formed no religious convictions until he wasfifteen. Apologia pro Vita Sua. John Henry Newman. This religious teaching wasthe teaching of the Anglican Church. Newman knew that itwas not enough to prohibit this but that an alternative had to be found.The answer was a Catholic University, which Newman had proposed previouslyand had been rejected. Oxford was based on the medieval ideal and so was a colony oftwenty independent colleges, and the curriculum was also in the medievalmanner and so did not include modern studies but only the classics ofGreece and Rome. The situation was attacked in the press, and new administratorsand tutors were selected who were better able to provide an atmosphere ofintellectual pursuit. My habitual feeling then and since has been, that it not I who sought friends, but friends who sought me.[1 ] Newman spent time in Italy before returning to England in 1833, andby then he had fears developing about the future of the Anglican Church.The political winds had changed and the liberal Whigs were in power. [1 ]Newman, 136. TheAnglican Bishops had offended the people by voting against the Reform Billof 1832. I have changed in many things: in this I have not. Before setting down his thoughts in writing, it seemed that he had already before him a psychological case study of his hearers: their feelings, conflicts, prejudices.[2 ] As a thinker, Newman achieved an expression of ideas that remainsrelevant today. [8]Ibid., 2 . Indeed,at this time Newman would break with the liberal tendencies in the AnglicanChurch. Whately directed Newman to the trend inliberal theology whose leaders were known as Noetics because they calledeverything into question.[8] In time, though, Newman departed from theNoetics and expounded ideas of his own as he gained experience as acounselor and comforter of souls at St. [19]Ibid., 128-132. Newman himself began developing a newreligious conception that cast him in disfavor, a view he called the ViaMedia. Lapati, John Henry Newman (New York: Twayne, 1972), 13. The Oxford Movement published numerous tracts, with many of themwritten by Newman. The Spiritual Journey of Newman. When he was fifteen, though,the sermons of and conversations with the Reverend Walter Mayers ofPembroke College, Oxford, would bring the beginning of a divine faith tothe boy.[4] In writing about this period, Cardinal Newman says of thegreat change that came over him: I fell under the influences of a definite Creed, and received into my intellect impressions of dogma, which, through God's mercy, have never been effaced or obscured.[5]That influence was Calvinism, though Newman was only attracted to thedoctrines of Calvinism and was not wholly influenced by them.[6] John Henry graduated his course at Ealing and enrolled at Oxford,which at the time was still bound to the Church of England so that aprerequisite for admission was formal subscription to the Thirty-nineArticles. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Morehouse, 199 .Dessain, Charles Stephen. [18]Charles Stephen Dessain, John Henry Newman (London: Nelson, 1966),128. His style is also vivid, and he understood both his subject and hisaudience: He has a psychological insight into the mind and hearts of the people to whom her addressed his message. In his autobiography, Cardinal Newman not onlydiscusses the strength of his conversion and the nature of his spiritualshift, but also provides a strong defense of Catholicism against itscritics and against those who would challenge his thought because of theconversion he underwent. [2]Jean Honorй, The Spiritual Journey of Newman (New York: Alba House,1992), 1. Theonly area of school where he showed little interest was activeparticipation in sports because he was physically delicate and shy.Throughout these years, the boy was intensely preoccupied with religiousreading and thinking, and though many of the ideas that he entertained atthe time probably reflected immaturity of thought, they still played animportant role in his later theological development and writings. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 199 .Newman, John Henry Cardinal. [14]Ibid., 37. [6]Lapati, 16. Newman was desirous of freeing the Anglican Church fromthe condemnation of schism and to show her unyielding loyalty to theoriginal apostolic church, and he therefore threw himself into a study ofthe Thirty-nine Articles drawn up by the Anglican church in the sixteenthcentury, asking how the Church of England could win back its "Catholic"character. He wasdevoted to truth and would not allow poorly chosen words to obscure thattruth. Catholics regarded him once more as their champion, and the vindicator of their clergy.[18]Newman saw his restored position merely as an opportunity to work. John Henry Newman was a major figure in the development of RomanCatholicism in England in the nineteenth century, and indeed he exercised avital influence on the religious life of the nation. . John henryspent his childhood in Old Broad Street, London, except for six years whenhis family lived at Grey's Court, Ham, near Richmond. [3]Americo D. Among the issues debated in recentyears and addressed in the last century by Newman were the collegiality ofbishops, the role of the laity, and freedom of conscience.[21] Newman'simportance as a philosopher has been noted only in recent assessments, buthis philosophical conceptions extend beyond the religious concerns thatoften mask their wider application.[22] BibliographyChadwick, Henry. Mary's. Whately saw Newman's defection not as a matter of convictionbut rather as ambition by the young man to head his own group offollowers.[9] Newman would later disagree with this notion: Dr. Whately attributed my leaving his clientela to a wish on my part to be the head of a party myself. He wrote a tract offering an answer to this question. He as coming to see that the Church of Rome had thestrong point of universality, while the Church of England had"primitiveness," since the Catholic Church had added many things to theapostolic faith. Keble made a speech in 1833 in which he condemnedthe liberalism of the age, fearing that its triumph could greatly dividethe individual between his or her duties toward the church and those towardthe state. He was known to revise all that he wroteover and over, and thus vivid exactness is a marek of his style. [4]Ibid., 14-15. [5]John Henry Cardinal Newman, Apologia pro Vita Sua (New York:Doubleday, 1956), 127. The Anglican Church seemed to be ineffective in countering thetide running against it. Newman asks if itis possible that the divine intention is that branches of the Catholicashould be out of communion with each other?[16] Whatever Newman intended originally, he converted to RomanCatholicism as the storm around his perceived criticism of the AnglicanChurch increased: . Without doubt, because he lived them intensely, which is a child's privilege, always ready for wonder, wholly and entirely attentive to the call of everything around him, he discovered himself while discovering the world. With a new Pope after 1822, when Newman was aCardinal, the matter was broached once more, but it was not yet to come topass.[19] Newman's influence extended long after his death, for he was aprolific writer and expressed himself as a poet, letter writer, preacher,novelist, research scholar, essayist, historian, and philosopher. . From the age of fifteen, dogma has been the fundamental principle of my religion: I know no other religion; I cannot enter the idea of any other sort of religion; religion, as a mere sentiment, is to be a dream and a mockery.[12]Newman further states that he believed in a definite religious teachingthat was based on this foundation of dogma. BishopUllathorne offered Newman the mission, the Catholic parish, at Oxford, withthe idea that Newman would build a church in the town and make provisionfor the religious needs of Catholics at the University. [11]Lapati, 31. [2 ]Lapati, 121. New York: Doubleday, 1956.Lapati, Americo D. His style has a personalcharacter reflected in the fact that he practiced what he preached andwrote about what he understood. Newman underestimated the strength of that reaction,however. He has been a very important figure in Catholicthought and is much cited by others. John Henry Newman. As a reform movement within the Church of England, it sought to demonstrate the continuity between the primitive church of the Fathers and the Anglican Church of the nineteenth century and to stem the tide of rationalism and liberalism which could undermine her doctrine and authority.[11]Newman has written about his own specific doctrines and those doctrinesagainst which he was fighting at this time. London: Nelson, 1966.Honorй, Jean. it must be said, without any ambiguity, that Newman converted to Rome as much to remain faithful to his vocation and mission as to be assured of his salvation. His influence on subsequent thinkers and writers wasenormous, and his influence on religious thought was especially notable andcontinues to this day. It isinstead one man's own story of his change of mind.[1] Jean Honorй cites John Henry Newman to the effect that many peoplewho need to understand themselves and to explain their destiny return againand again to the mystery of their childhood and notes that Newman was sucha person: All his life, which was long, he remained faithful to the memory of his earliest years. Newmanreacted calmly to these charges and seemed to have anticipated the reactionhe would get. [16]Henry Chadwick, "Newman's Significance for the Anglican Church," inDavid Brown Newman: A Man for Our Time (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania:Morehouse, 199 ), 67. I do not think that it was deserved. His father was a member of a bankingfamily, and his mother was the descendant of a French Protestant familythat had come to England at the end of the seventeenth century. The obligation he assumed was both a pledge of his submission to the will of God and the guarantee of his spiritual peace.[17] The Apologia was important for Newman as an opportunity many yearsafter the fact to make public his thoughts and the truth of his beliefsabout religion, the Anglican Church, and the Catholic Church, and the bookdid have the desired effect as Newman's power with the public was restored: English people generally were convinced of his integrity, and once more, whatever he said or wrote, he could be sure of a hearing. New York: Alba House, 1992.Hughes, Philip. The majority of students seemed to beattending college largely to fulfill a social and traditional obligation totheir family class, and so they spent most of their time in orgiasticpursuits. "Newman as Philosopher." In Ian Ker and Alan G. He would later break with Keble and hold him up as anexample of religious ignorance. Newman left numerouswritings about his life and his theology, and these have been influentialever since. New York: Twayne, 1972.Mitchell, Basil. [17]Honorй, 144. .[14] The reaction against Newman was considerable, and he was charged withbeing an advocate of popery and a traitor to the Church of England. Hill, Newman after a Hundred Years, 223-246. ManyAnglicans at the time were able to concede that their Creeds and Book ofCommon Prayer were capable of a Roman Catholic interpretation, but they didnot feel this way about the Articles, which were considered distinctlyProtestant: Newman, who wished to extent a Roman Catholic interpretation to the Articles, argued that the Articles were not directed to the teachings of the early church and to the formal dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church as set forth in her general councils. The full title of the work includes the subtitlebeing a History of his Religious Opinions, and it is not an apology forthose views in spite of the way we use the word "apology" today. Many Catholics atthe time prohibited their sons from attending Oxford. He also states that it is not to be taken as the story ofNewman's life with God. "Newman's Significance for the Anglican Church." In David Brown. Peel's party was defeated, and Newman wasexhilarated. "Introduction." In John Henry Cardinal Newman. Hisreligious training at home accounted for his great familiarity with theBible. He alsoacted in plays and showed a taste for the Roman dramatist, Terence. Oxford could thus be said to be living in the ancient pastwithin a medieval framework. [22]Basil Mitchell, "Newman as Philosopher," in Ian Ker and Alan G.Hill, Newman after a Hundred Years (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 199 ), 223.----------------------- 3 Included in the work is an account of his role inthe development of the Oxford Movement, a liberal, intellectual movementseeking reform from within the Anglican Church. . Apologia pro Vita Sua. John Henrywas baptized in the Anglican Church, the church of his parents. Indeed, when he was fourteen his readings led him into mildskepticism about revealed religion, and he took pleasure in reading theobjections to revelation in certain works. Newman: A Man for Our Time. . Philip Hughes points out that the Apologia is not a history of theOxford Movement. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.