John Henry Newman, Cor ad Cor Loquitur, El corazón habla al corazón by Paul Hitchings (review)

NEWMAN STUDIES JOURNAL 98 contemporary theologians; his“eight specific theses”are the product of considerable reflection and represent a creative interfacing of Newman’s ideas and Lonergan’s isomophism in what might be considered an exemplary theological comparison. On the other hand, this theological maneuver is methodologically problematic: first, if Newman’s Essay does not present an explicitly pneumatical ecclesiology, can one be found lurking in the background or implicit between the lines? Second, even granting the utility of Lonergan’s “isomorphism,” applying such categories to Newman’s Essay seems somewhat procrustean; consequently, the Lonerganian correlation of Newman’s epistemology and his ecclesiology [190–192] seems both highly creative and hermeneutically contrived. Last but not least, this book’s academic apparatus is not always reader-friendly; there is a double reference system consisting of parenthetical references syncopated within the text and footnoted references abbreviated at the bottom of the page. As an extreme example, a person may have to look in ten different places to find a complete reference. For example, a reader curious about the parenthetical reference on page 60—Ott, 1974, 68–72—might first look in the “name index” (229–231), but not finding Ott,might go to the list of abbreviations (8–10),but again not finding Ott, go to the bibliography (203–221) and look through three categories of “primary sources”and then three categories of“secondary literature”and finally two categories of “reference”—where Ludwig Ott’s Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma is the last item listed. Such minor frustrations aside,this book is like a mosaic:viewing a mosaic at close range, an art critic may detect irregularities in the coloration of the tessera and imperfections in their positioning; similarly, a reader may be critical of this book’s ahistorical interpretations and inconsistent systematizations. Yet by looking at a mosaic at an appropriate distance, a viewer may admire an original and impressive work of art that is worthy of study from different perspectives; similarly, readers will find this book, cumulatively considered, a creative and thought-provoking contribution to Newman studies that merits close attention and critical reflection. John T. Ford c.s.c. The Catholic University of America John Henry Newman, Cor ad Cor Loquitur, El corazón habla al corazón. By Paul Hitchings. Madrid:Villena Artes Gráficas, 2011. Pages: 56. Paper with DVD: ISBN 978–84–938215–2–4. € 13.52. This large size paperback, printed on glossy paper and handsomely illustrated with multi-colored illustrations, is an attractive souvenir of an exposition with the same title in Madrid in 2011. The contents are a smörgåsbord of topics loosely organized around four themes: (1) John Henry Newman; (2) England: A History of Grace; (3) the papal visit in 2010; (4) “Newman: Prophet for our time.” The first section is not a biography of Newman, but a series of important events in his life—including his teenage conversion (1816), his Mediterranean voyage (1832–1833), his involvement in the Oxford Movement (1833–1845), his entrance into the Roman Catholic Church (1845)—presented through quotations from his 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...