John Henry Newman: Man of Letters by Mary Katherine Tillman (review)

Mary Katherine Tillman's book, John Henry Newman: Man of Letters, is a collection of essays that interprets Newman as an expert in the art of letters, a category that Newman himself expounds upon in the "Literature" chapter of his Idea of a University. In a lecture addressed to the "School of Philosophy and Letters," Newman explores the meaning of "Letters." Newman describes the art of letters as "one who has something to say and knows how to say it."¹ Further, Newman describes the art of letters as a method of writing or speaking that makes the subject real—as in Newman's categories of real and notional²—for the audience. Newman argues that "the Art of Letters is the method by which a speaker or writer brings out in words, worthy of his subject, and sufficient for his audience or readers, the thoughts which impress him."³

While each chapter in this volume acts as a stand-alone essay, Tillman utilizes Newman's "commitment to higher education—its possibilities and challenges, its philosophy and history" (13) as the thread that strings together the varying ideas presented in her book. Tillman emphasizes the relationship between faith and reason in Newman's writings, and subtly uses Newman's ideas to demonstrate the importance of engaging the philosophical and literary classics, both for Newman and in our own contemporary university contexts.

Tillman, a philosopher by trade, focuses primarily on Newman's philosophical ideas. She explains how her reading of Plato and Aristotle, who were both central in Newman's own education, fueled her love for Newman's prose, while at the same time providing her with insight into Newman's philosophical mind. Tillman's expertise in the interpretation of the classics, as well as her forty years of experience teaching in the "Great Books" seminars and the history of philosophy at Notre Dame University, provides her with a valuable perspective into Newman's understanding of the art of letters. Tillman has both an extensive knowledge of Newman's literary corpus, including his Letters and Diaries, and the philosophical and literary classics that were foundational in Newman's own education and his later educational philosophy described in his Idea of a University.

We learn from Newman's Idea of a University that letters and philosophy are intrinsically related, and are essential for a quality liberal education. One may ask whether Plato and Cicero are considered literature or philosophy. Newman argues that we view "the works of Plato or Cicero sometimes as philosophy, sometimes as literature."⁴ Cicero and Plato function as both philosophy and literature depending on the context. Both authors have something profound to say, but they are able to masterfully render it in a way that leaves a lasting impression in the mind of the reader. It is distinctive of artists in letters to be able to relay to the audience something of their own intellect and emotion that in turn influences the continuing thought of the reader.

Tillman's portrait of Newman as an expert in letters includes comparisons of Newman with figures such as Blaise Pascal and Claude Monet. Along these lines, Tillman provides a number of references to music, something dear to Newman, as a way to explain how an expert in letters impresses upon the mind a lasting idea. Tillman herself is in many respects simulating Newman's idea of the art of letters in her own descriptions of Newman's ideas. For example, in her third essay, Tillman compares the construction of Newman's sermons to Monet's (1840–1926) Les Cathédrales in order to explain how Newman understands "thinking" as a circular act (51). Tillman argues that just as an artist, Monet in this instance, has a context or vantage point for painting, so does a thinker have context for ideas. Monet also has a method of ordering his painting into a masterpiece that comes from...