Newman and Faith ed. by Ian Ker, Terrence Merrigan (review)

Newman and Faith is a collection of eight principal papers given at the third Oxford International Newman Conference (August 11–15, 2001) at Keble College, Oxford. One should not judge a book by its cover and a fortiori one should not judge a book by its title. While this collection contains several papers focused directly upon Newman’s understanding of faith, the potential reader should be forewarned that this book does not seek to provide a comprehensive or unified or consistent account of Newman’s thought on the subject of faith. In fact, the collection even contains some essays that apparently avoid the topic altogether. But such is to be expected from a collection of conference papers,especially one devoted to Newman,whose extensive writings and interests do not always lend themselves to an on-topic discussion. How the book ought to be judged, however, is, according to its editors’ stated purposes: “first, to seek to address, so far as possible, the different aspects of Newman’s writings . . . and second, to relate Newman’s work to contemporary concerns and interests in these different disciplines” (vii). Judged in this way, the book is a success. A further achievement, worthy of note—the book provides for much enjoyment in reading, not to mention a valuable lesson in Newman studies. The eight authors, collectively considered, show once again how resistant NEWMAN STUDIES JOURNAL 86 Oxford”(106). As the author shows,the reaction toTract 90 was the last straw for the emotionally fragile Newman and in 1845 he made his submission to the Roman Church. There already exists a very rich bibliography on religion in England in the nineteenth century. Yet The Broad Church seems to this reviewer to bring new insight into this fascinating period by dealing in such detail with both the professional and personal lives of several of the movement’s leaders and by offering readers access to the interpersonal dynamics which set them in union with or in opposition to other churchmen. The Broad Church will be of interest to readers already well acquainted with the Evangelical Revival or with the Oxford Movement within the Church of England, and will deepen their knowledge of a movement which contributed enormously to the shaping of the ethos of contemporary Anglicanism. Louis Weil Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkeley, CA Newman and Faith. Edited by Ian Ker and Terrence Merrigan. Louvain Theological and Pastoral Monographs 31. Leuven (Belgium): Peeters; Grand Rapids, MI: W. B. Eerdmans, 2004. Pages:viii + 217. Paper, 22.00;$32.00. ISBN 90-429-1461-0 (Peeters);0-8028-28388 (Eerdmans). NEWMAN AND FAITH IAN KER AND TERRANCE MERRIGAN, EDS. 87 Newman is to being pigeonholed into one movement or tradition or trend in history. Therefore, another achievement of this book is methodological, in that it gives readers a glimpse into the difficulties associated with Newman studies by displaying many varied and even contradictory approaches of the leaders in the field. This collection displays the diversity of Newman’s writings by including not only analyses of the most recognized texts—An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, Apologia pro Vita Sua—but also a fascinating literary analysis of Newman’s novel Callista by Elisabeth Jay. Jay investigates a problem that concerned Newman in both his professional and personal life, the problem of the relationship between the intellect, hereditary characteristics, and belief. The majority of the essay is concerned with the autobiographical significance of Agellius and Juba, characters in Callista. By mining Newman’s Letters and Diaries, as well as by insightfully analyzing Newman’s poetry, Jay sheds light both on Newman’s theoretical ideas on the intellect and belief, and more interestingly, on Newman’s personal relationships with his two younger brothers, Francis and Charles, which Jay argues is similar to the dynamic between Agellius and Juba. This approach of studying Newman’s writings to understand his personal life is taken up as well by Bruno Forte, who argues that the writing of the Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine paralleled Newman’s conversion to the Roman Catholic Church. Newman and Faith paves the way for researchers who...