Newman’s Reflections on Biblical Inspiration

Newman was keenly aware of the challenge posed to Christians by the development of historical biblical criticism in the nineteenth century. In several of his Anglican writings– most notably in no. 85 of Tracts for the Times, in unpublished notes and drafts dating from 1861–1863, and in two essays published in 1884–he attempted to resolve questions regarding the nature of biblical “inspiration,” the respective roles of the divine and human “authors,” and the nature of biblical “truth.” This article, originally a paper given at the 2012 conference of the Association française des Amis de Newman on Newman et la Bible, was first published in French in Études Newmaniennes no. 29 (2013).