Dieu Intérieur: La théologie spirituelle de John Henry Newman by Keith Beaumont (review)

John Henry Newman has long been recognized as a philosopher and theologian, an essayist and educator, a preacher and historian. Much less attention, however, has been paid to his role as a spiritual guide. This default is rather anomalous, since the "care of souls" was the work that he considered primary and the one that undergirded both his ministerial activities and practically all of his writings. From the time of his teenage conversion until his death, Newman's focus was the Christian life.

But what does it mean to be a "Christian"? For Newman, "a true Christian" is a person with a profound sense of God's presence; as he stated in his Apologia pro vita sua (1864), his teenage conversion made him "rest in the thought of two and two only supreme and luminously self-evident beings, myself and my Creator." His conversion experience enabled him to recognize that an intellectualized Christianity can be heartless, while an emotional Christianity can be mindless. Accordingly, in contrast to his contemporaries (and ours) who in various ways separate doctrine and devotion, he paired the notional/logical dimensions of Christianity and its real/ethical dimensions: philosophers are concerned about the Prime Mover; romantics are concerned about religious experience; true Christians must be concerned about "the God within."

While grounding his spirituality on traditional sources—the Bible and the Church Fathers—Newman was nonetheless un homme de la modernité (24), a modern person willing to address the emerging challenge of secularism by balancing faith and reason, by integrating "the dogmatical principle" and the Christian spiritual life. Via such balance and correlation, Newman exercised a triple role as "theologian, pastor and spiritual guide" (28).

Beaumont begins his treatment of Newman's spirituality by examining his theology, spiritual experiences and conversion. Next the Christian spiritual life is treated in relation to dogma, the Trinity, salvation, faith, reason, and ethics. Finally, five facets of spirituality are considered: conscience, "spiritual training," the Christian and the world, "spiritual humanism," and the "beauty" of holiness. Beaumont concludes by characterizing Newman's theology and spirituality as "surrender" (abandon). Although Americans may be prone to understand "surrender" as "abandoning" or "giving up," for Newman, "surrender" is a person's willingness to allow God to work within one's soul. During Newman's life, such "surrender" was exemplified in his astonishing obedience to short-sighted ecclesiastical authorities in spite of their arbitrariness; such "surrender" to the providential guidance of God was epitomized in Newman's famous poem-prayer "Lead, Kindly Light."

This volume seems destined to become the gold standard of Newman's theology for decades to come. First, Beaumont has a comprehensive familiarity with Newman's life and work. Second, Beaumont presents what C. S. Dessain called "Newman's Spiritual Themes"¹ with both perceptive theological insight and appropriate historical background: readers are able to appreciate how Newman's spirituality developed and deepened during the different stages of his life. Third, Beaumont is remarkably attentive to linguistic details: while Victorian English is sometimes incomprehensible to 21^st century Americans, his French-reading audience will benefit from the author's nuanced explanations; in fact, Beaumont provides insights that American readers might otherwise overlook. One hopes that this marvelous volume will soon appear in translation.²