The Cambridge Companion to John Henry Newman (review)

This collection of thirteen essays aims to introduce readers to the theology of Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801–90) as well as, in the words of the editors, meet the "great need for an accessible, comprehensive and systematic presentation of the major themes" of Newman's work (p. xii). An additional aim is to show the "contemporary relevance" of Newman's thought in the context of "modern and postmodern concerns and themes"(p. xii). The choice of contributors certainly corresponds to these aims; all are academic theologians from the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, Rome, and Belgium who have published works on Newman or on themes that exist in his work. The themes covered include the Church Fathers, revelation, faith, justification, development of doctrine, the Church as communion, infallibility, authority in the Church, conscience, theology in the university, and preaching. A concluding chapter, "Newman in Retrospect," deals specifically with the relevance of his thought in a "postmodern" philosophical context.

Inevitably, in this kind of collective work, the level of contributions is uneven. Several chapters are excellent (Terrence Merrigan on revelation, Thomas Norris on faith, Gerard J. Hughes on conscience); others are very good; and a few barely rise above the level of vulgarization. Differences would seem to exist also in the audience that contributors seek to reach. Some take for granted that the basic facts of Newman's life and work are already known to the reader; others adopt a narrative and descriptive approach, which could have been omitted because of the excellent opening chapter by Sheridan Gilley that provides an overview of Newman's life and work.

Finally, the large number of authors and approaches leads to a degree of repetition and even, on occasion, mutual contradiction. It is thus amusing to find disagreement between Ian Ker and the late Cardinal Avery Dulles, S.J., concerning the identity of the "faithful" referred to in the title of Newman's controversial article of 1859 (for Ker, the term refers to the whole Christian body, composed of both laity and clerics; for Dulles, one simply composed of the laity). This is by no means a criticism; for the reader, such divergences of interpretation are a stimulus to further research and reflection.

The question, however, must be asked: Does this collection of essays provide a complete and rounded picture of Newman? The answer is, emphatically, no. Almost a third of his published work is made up of volumes of sermons. Yet only one chapter, situated near the end of the book, is devoted to this subject and is the shortest and weakest of all, the author offering little more than a stylistic analysis of Newman's preaching. Yet it was as a preacher—and thereby also, in his particular case, as a theologian taking much of his inspiration from the Church Fathers, a hard-headed and penetrating psychologist, and a spiritual guide—that Newman first made his mark and continues to enrich the intellectual and spiritual life of Christians. Are we to conclude that the themes of this preaching lie outside the scope of "theology" and are irrelevant to its concerns? The academic world has yet, it seems, to take full account of this dimension of the man and his work.

Nevertheless, taking the book on its own terms, this remains an excellent introduction and guide to Newman's thought in the areas covered.