The Liberal Spirit and Anti-Liberal Discourse of John Henry Newman by Ambrose Mong Ih-Ren (review)

99 writings and those of others. While the works are cited, unfortunately the various editions and pagination are not.The biographical chart [21] lists his appointment as Cardinal as 1878,instead of 1879. The second section on English history begins with the marriage of Henry VIII to Catalina de Aragón, the widow of his brother, Prince Arthur—accordingly a papal dispensation, not an annulment was needed [22]—and continues down to the Emancipation Act (1829) that granted many civil rights to Catholics and other dissenters,who were not members of the Church of England. In addition to treating the Roman Catholic martyrs under Henry VIII and his successors, the second section provides vignettes of later converts such as Gerard Manley Hopkins, Oscar Wilde, G. K. Chesterton, Christopher Dawson, Evelyn Waugh, J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. The two-page third section on the pastoral visit of Pope Benedict XVI consists of four quotations about the visit plus a column from The Daily Telegraph that “something unexpected is happening during the papal visit to this country” [39]— sensing that the initial hostility to the papal visit was changing into a surprisingly cordial welcome. The fourth section contains a number of quotations from Newman’s writings about conscience and reason, along with brief conversion testimonials from Stratford Caldecott,Martin Flatman,Kei Uno,and Peter Milward;the volume concludes with a page [55] about Newman in Japan. The accompanying ten-minute DVD features the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the United Kingdom,including:scenes of the crowds,mostly enthusiastic,but sometimes hostile; brief excerpts from the addresses of Queen Elizabeth II, the Archbishop of Canterbury and others; glimpses of Newman’s beatification and other ceremonies; etc. The commentary is in Spanish, but a few of the speeches are in English with Spanish subtitles. The book and DVD together are an attractive recuerdo of Newman’s beatification. John T. Ford c.s.c. The Catholic University of America BOOK REVIEWS The Liberal Spirit and Anti-Liberal Discourse of John Henry Newman. By Ambrose Mong Ih-Ren. European University Studies, Series 23:Theology,Volume 925. New York-Oxford: Peter Lang, 2011. Pages: xii + 192. Paper: ISBN 978–3–0343–1075–8; $65.95, £39.00. eBook: ISBN 978–3–0351–287–1, $65.95,£39.00. The author, a Dominican priest assigned in Hong Kong, offers his book as “a modest attempt to cast light on [the] liberal aspect of Newman”and its relation to“his anti-liberal rhetoric” (6). On the surface, the two seem to be in tension with one another, but the author believes they can be synthesized or at least satisfactorily explained. He goes about this project in five steps: reviewing the scholarly literature (Ch. 1); narrating Newman’s personal history with liberalism (Ch. 2); analyzing his polemical response to liberalism (Ch. 3); describing some of his more liberal theological positions (Ch.4);and assessing his legacy in the context of contemporary religious pluralism (Ch. 5). Unfortunately for the Newman Studies community, which could very much use a good book on these questions,this account is plagued by two NEWMAN STUDIES JOURNAL 1 00 serious problems—problems that make it difficult to heed his argument. First, nearly every page of The Liberal Spirit is marred by awkward and unidiomatic prose.While apparently native English speakers have vetted the book, a good deal more editing would have helped it considerably. Second, the author fails in several places to cite the sources from which he is obtaining his material, sometimes lifting as much as a whole sentence, unattributed, from another scholar’s work.Together, these unhappy flaws make it difficult to take the work as seriously as one otherwise might. Dwight A. Lindley III Hillsdale College What Mary Means to Christians: An Ancient Tradition Explained. By Peter M. J. Stravinskas. New York/Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2012. Pages: v + 102. Paperback: ISBN 978–0–8091–4744–1. $9.95. This volume exemplifies the proverb that a book should never be judged by its cover. The title and the cover painting of Mary and the infant Jesus are characteristic of a book of popular Marian devotions, while the subtitle seems...