The Old Testament and Judaism in the Last Anglican Sermons of John Henry Newman

The article discusses the unexplored question of the role played by the Old Testament and Judaism in the transition of John Henry Newman, a prominent nineteenth-century English theologian, from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism. Based primarily on the analysis of the sermons given by Newman in the early 1840s, prior to his conversion in 1845, it argues, first, that Newman, while remaining an adherent of supersessionism, took a stand against marginalization of the Old Testament. His attitude to Judaism of the biblical period was imbued with a sense of deep respect. Second, Newman intensely appealed in his sermons to the Old Testament tropes, drawing, for example, direct parallels between himself and the prophet Elijah. Third, he used the Old Testament as a prooftext for his principle of doctrinal development in Christianity, which allowed him to consider the emergence of new formulations and dogmas as a natural process and the Roman Catholic Church as “true.” The sermons in question, undeservedly overlooked by researchers, indicate that awareness of the role that Judaism played in the genesis of Christianity was fundamental in the development of this principle.