Asides about John Henry Newman being either particularly English or
particularly un-English are common. John Henry Newman and the English
Sensibility scrutinises Newman's theological writings to establish how
his theology can be considered distinctively English or un-English at
the different stages of its development. In his Tractarian period,
Newman's theology is shown to be profoundly characterised by common
19th-century tropes of a perceived English sensibility, namely an
instinct for compromise, an affection for reserve and a markedly
empirical orientation to life. In the period following Newman's
conversion to Catholicism in 1845, however, his theology turns against
the Englishness of his earlier years as he critiques of the many
theological dangers of a self-confident cultural sensibility. In his
mature writings, nonetheless, Newman re-incorporates certain elements
of his earlier Englishness with a Catholic grounding, yet also
maintains an antipathy to certain targets of his post-conversion
polemics. Phillips finds that the English instinct for compromise is
not incorporated into Newman's mature theology, which remains
unabashedly one-sided in its understanding of God and the Catholic
Church, taking precedence over elements of a cultural sensibility
pertaining ultimately to the sphere of the natural. The affection for
reserve, however, is shown to be capable of gracious elevation when
reconfigured on a Catholic grounding. Most importantly, the profoundly
empirical orientation to life which was considered typical of
Englishness in Newman's day emerges as something exhibiting what
Newman might consider a 'antecedent affinity' to Catholic theology.
This book thus concludes by offering a view of the English Catholic
sensibility as characterised by a mindset of careful reserve toward
knowledge and words about God, arising from a marked concern for the
living, embodied present as the site of God's transformative action in
the twists and turns of human life.
Les mer
Distant Scene
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780567689047
Publisert
2023
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
Vendor
Bloomsbury T&T Clark
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter