John Henry Newman and the English Sensibility: Distant Scene
Ebook
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.
A study of Newman's embattled love-hate relationship with English culture, offering fresh insights into the way cultural sensibilities and theological convictions can both repel and interrelate.
Combines the approaches of Newman's identity as a '19th century man of letters' and his theological ideas and most proximate ecclesial contexts studies, showing how the two dimensions interrelate
Utilises cultural theory to answer questions posed by nationhood, culture, and identity, to explore what a distinctively English mode of theology might entail
Studies John Henry Newman's struggle with his own cultural sensibilities, and provides fresh insight for interrelating theology and culture
Chapter 1:
John Henry Newman and Englishness
Chapter 2:
The English Sensibility
Chapter 3:
Newman's Tractarian Compromise
Chapter 4:
Newman's Tractarian Reserve
Chapter 5:
Newman's Tractarian Empiricism
Chapter 6:
Compromise in the Second Spring
Chapter 7:
Reserve in the Second Spring
Chapter 8:
Empiricism in the Second Spring
Chapter 9:
Compromise in the Mature Newman
Chapter 10:
Reserve in the Mature Newman
Chapter 11:
Empiricism in the Mature Newman
Conclusion:
Distant Scene
Bibliography
Index
It is a common observation that John Henry Newman was quintessentially English, however Philips demonstrates that in the encounter between Catholicism and Englishness in Newman's theology, there are both coalescences and corrections to English sensibilities and intellectual fashions. German readers of Newman have long been aware of this. This work by Philips offers a comprehensive treatment of the issue. It is written with a high level of English literary elegance that does justice to the genre of Newman studies. It is likely to become a seminal reference work in the field.
Dean Church, Newman's lifelong friend, called attention to the convert's inalienable Englishness, his "chief interests" being "for things English -- English literature, English social life, English politics, English religion." In John Henry Newman and the English Sensibility, Jacob Phillips revisits this characteristic aspect of Newman with fresh, judicious, learned insight.
- Title: John Henry Newman and the English Sensibility: Distant Scene
- Author: Jacob Phillips
- Publisher: T&T Clark
- Print Publication Date: 2023
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9780567689047, 9780567689016, 0567689018, 0567689042
- Resource ID: LLS:9780567689047
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-05-12T04:11:37Z