The Personalism Of John Henry Newman

It has been said that John Henry Newman stands at the threshold of the new age as a Christian Socrates, the pioneer of a new philosophy of the individual Person and Personal Life. Newman's personalism is found in the way he contrasts the theological intellect and the religious imagination. Newman pleads for the latter when he famously says, in words that John F. Crosby takes as the motto of his book, I am far from denying the real force of the arguments in proof of a God ...but these do not warm me or enlighten me; they do not take away the winter of my desolation, or make the buds unfold and the leaves grow within me, and my moral being rejoice. In The Personalism of John Henry Newman, Crosby shows the reader how Newman finds the life-giving religious knowledge that he seeks. He explores the heart in Newman and explains what Newman was saying when he chose as his cardinal's motto, cor ad cor loquitur (heart speaks to heart). He explains what Newman means in saying that religious truth is transmitted not by argument but by personal influence.Crosby also examines Newman's personalist account of what it is to think; he explains what it is for a person to think not just by rule but by his spontaneous living intelligence. Crosby examines the subjectivity of Newman, and shows how the modern turn to the subject is enacted in Newman. But these personalist aspects of Newman's mind, which connect him with many streams of contemporary thought, are not the whole of Newman; they stand in relation to something else in Newman, something that Crosby calls Newman's radically theocentric religion. Newman is a modern thinker, but not the modernist he is sometimes mistaken for. The inexhaustible plenitude of Newman derives from theunion of apparent opposites in him: the union of his teaching on the heart with his theocentric teaching, of the subjectivity of experience with the objectivity of revealed truth. Crosby writes for a broad non-specialist public just as Newman did.

In Personalist Papers, John F. Crosby continues the discussion of Christian personalism begun in his highly acclaimed book, The Selfhood of the Human Person.

This book goes beyond a simple study of Newman’s thought and work and seeks to apply his deductions to modern value conflicts. Although it will be of particular relevance to academic readers with some prior knowledge of Newman’s works, it may also be of wider interest to students of history, philosophy, theology and spirituality. More generally, its unusual focus on Newman’s epistemology and philosophical deductions, and how these relate to present-day dilemmas, should also attract interest from his many non-academic followers and devotees. “The main value of this work lies in its original approach to Newman from a Polish Personalist perspective, and this (rather than as another amorphous study of Newman) could give it novelty value and attract real interest from Newman scholars and experts.” -Jonathan Luxmoore, Oxford-based writer and Church historian "How do we evaluate a human life, our own life? Beginning with John Henry Newman’s defence of his life, Jan Kłos in this volume sensitively explores from a personalist perspective how all our lives involve struggle with commitment, responsibility, and truth. In its emphasis on the narrative structure of human lives, the book makes a valuable contribution not just to the philosophy of personalism but to social theory overall." -Douglas Porpora, Professor of Sociology, Drexel University

In recent years, interest in John Henry Newman as a philosopher has gained momentum. This work places his philosophical insights in conversation with philosophers from the pragmatic tradition, particularly with C. S. Peirce, the classical pragmatists, and those who have followed their line, and shows several lines of concurrence. It argues that Newman overcame the modern philosophy of his time by reconnecting to the Aristotelian tradition in a very similar way to how Peirce did it fifty years later and the new pragmatists a century after. Without claiming that Newman is a pragmatist philosopher, pragmatism is used as a foil, or point of access, to delve into Newman's philosophy and bring forth the richness of his thought while placing him in the canon of philosophy. This approach deepens the understanding of his philosophical contributions and widens their reach to circles that have previously not engaged with him. Further, this study provides a means to understand pragmatism's resources from a seldom-used vantage point and perhaps appreciate its fruitfulness in a new way. Much emphasis is placed in Newman's texts that refer to his search for and commitment to the truth. The particular nuances of his thought that are brought to light showcase the effective intellectual resources that his writings contain. Newman does not provide ready-made answers to today's questions, but the way he analyzes and engages with the quandaries of his time can point us to creative and fruitful ways of engaging with those of our times.

John Henry Newman, the most seminal of modern Catholic theologians, is often called 'the Father of the Second Vatican Council.' the teachings of which he anticipated in so many ways, especially in his ecclesiology, with its emphasis on the role of the laity, but also in his theory of the development of doctrine, his ecumenism, and his concern for the renewal of Catholicism in the modern world.

"Through the thought and writings of John Henry Newman, the author explores four counterfeits of important Christian ideas in secularized culture--conscience, faith, doctrine, and the university--and presents true exemplars of these notions for the modern world"--

John Henry Newman (1801-1890), renowned thinker and writer, Anglican clergyman and later Roman Catholic priest and cardinal, has had a lasting influence on both Anglicans and Catholics, in the fields of literature, education, and theology. On October 13, 2019, Pope Francis declared him a saint in Rome. Appealing to both the student and the scholar, A Guide to John Henry Newman provides a wide range of subjects on Newman's life and thought relevant for our times and complementary to biographies of Newman. The contributors include authors from many different disciplines such as theology, education, literature, history, and philosophy, highlighting the wide range of Newman's work. These authors offer a positive assessment of Newman's thought and contribute to the discussion of the recent scholarship of others. A Guide to John Henry Newman will interest educated readers and professors alike, and serve as a text for college seminars for the purpose of studying Newman.