Introduction
Introduction
The major incentive for writing this book is to make John Henry Newman’s theology more accessible to students, both undergraduate and graduate theology majors, and to educated Catholic laywomen and -men. Throughout my career, I have been somewhat schizophrenic in my approach to studying Newman. In my scholarly existence I have done research on Newman’s thought, presented papers at professional conferences, and published articles in professional journals on Newman, particularly his theology of faith. Yet, seldom in my teaching have I presented any of Newman’s theology in my classes. My constant concern was that Newman would be too difficult for the students. How could they possibly understand something like the Grammar of Assent?
At the same time, it was becoming more and more evident that we were in the midst of a Newman revival in Catholic theology. Since the Second Vatican Council, more and more theologians and Catholic laymen and -women have become attracted by the theological sophistication and spiritual depth that can be found in the writings of John Henry Newman. Recently, in an effort to overcome my schizophrenia and my fears, I have begun to introduce Newman’s theology into some of my undergraduate and graduate courses for theology majors. The difficulties and challenges encountered in this endeavor have convinced me of the need for more introductory books on Newman’s theology.
Admittedly, there are already a number of introductory books available on Newman. Many focus on his life and his spirituality. Some, like Avery Dulles’s new book, Newman: Outstanding Christian Thinkers, present a general overview of some of the major aspects of his thought. Others focus on introducing the reader to different aspects of Newman’s theology, such as revelation, the Church, Christology, or the development of doctrine. The uniqueness of this book as an introductory text is that it presents a systematic analysis of Newman’s mature notion of Catholic faith and attempts to show the significance of Newman’s theology of faith for Catholic theology in the new millennium.
Many fine books written on Newman’s notion of faith treat some of the topics that are covered in this book. John Elbert’s Evolution of Newman’s Conception of Faith and Sylvester Jergen’s Newman on the Psychology of Faith in the Individual do an excellent job of tracing the development of Newman’s notion of faith. William Fey’s book, Faith and Doubt, is a classic on Newman’s notion of the relationship between faith and doubt. M. Jamie Ferreira in her book, Doubt and Religious Commitment, presents a very scholarly treatment of the role of the will in Newman’s thought on certitude. A. J. Boekraad’s book, The Personal Conquest of Truth According to John Henry Newman, and David Pailin’s book, The Way to Faith: An Examination of Newman’s Grammar of Assent as a Response to the Search for Certainty in Faith, present a very convincing case for the personal nature of Newman’s notion of faith. A more recent work, Personal Catholicism by Martin X. Moleski, also stresses the personal nature of Newman’s notion of certitude in the Grammar of Assent. However, none of these works brings all of these elements together to present a systematic analysis of Newman’s mature notion of Catholic faith. Also, these works do not address the significance of Newman’s notion of faith for Catholic theology in the new millennium.
It is important to stress that the primary method of this book is that of systematic theology. The book is systematic in the sense that it attempts to bring together Newman’s diverse writings on faith and to present an integrated view of his mature notion of Catholic faith. Both primary and secondary sources are used in this analysis. The approach of the book is also systematic in a second sense. Systematic theology attempts to demonstrate how past expressions of Christian faith are relevant for questions and problems facing contemporary Christians. Therefore, the second objective of the book is to point out the significance of Newman’s views on Catholic faith for Catholic theology today. The overall approach of the book is academic and scholarly. The issues are explored in depth. When relevant, opposing interpretations of Newman’s thought are discussed. The book is annotated and includes a comprehensive bibliography on Newman’s notion of faith. It is not a popularization of Newman’s view of Catholic faith. As a result, the book also should be of interest to scholars engaged in Newman studies.
Since the notion of faith is such a foundational concept in theology, it is particularly advantageous to introduce newcomers to Newman’s theology through his theology of faith. One’s understanding of faith influences one’s understanding of other theological concepts, like Christology, the Church, doctrine and dogma, the magisterium, Christian morality, Christian spirituality, conscience and freedom of thought, the relationship between faith and doubt, and theological dissent. In developing his mature notion of Catholic faith, Newman had to deal with all of these issues. His encounter with the intellectual Roman theology of faith and his endeavor to develop a more personalist definition of Catholic faith provide a dramatic illustration of how differing views of faith influence one’s understanding of other theological concepts. Newman’s personal encounters and struggles within the Catholic Church provide an exciting montage with which many Catholics today can identify.
Another element of Newman’s theology of faith that might be attractive for contemporary Catholics is his focus on the certitude of the act of faith. For Catholics living in a world in which all positions are presented as equally true, certitude appears to be something that is obsolete. More liberal Catholics feel the pressure to suppress urges toward certitude in order to be open to and tolerant of other positions. On the other hand, conservative Catholics seem to feel that the confirmations of one’s certitudes means absolutizing one’s own position and setting up a fortress against all other views and beliefs.
Newman, however, offers a more balanced understanding of certitude. Certitude is a natural human response, and it is an essential element of faith. Without certitude, one does not really believe. Newman says that certitude is necessary for a living faith. Without it, the believer cannot make the conviction and take the risks that are necessary for a vital faith. According to Newman, without certitude there can be no habit of prayer, no devotion, no contact with God, no generosity or self-sacrifice. Certitude is necessary if faith is to overflow into a loving Christian praxis.
At the same time, certitude for Newman is a personal act. It flows from within the person and respects other persons. For Newman, certitude is not bias, prejudice, or dogmatism. Certitude is not infallibility, and it does not condone absolutizing one’s own positions. It is compatible with various forms of rational criticism. Certitudes are rooted in a person’s conscience and require freedom of thought in order to flourish and develop. Certitudes should not be used to put others down or inflict harm on them. Certitude can be open to and respectful of the views of others. Newman never says this, but perhaps certitude, like his gentleman, never inflicts harm on others.
In terms of the content of the book, one of the first things that needs to be clarified is the meaning of the term Catholic faith. In his writings, Newman distinguishes between human faith and divine faith. Human faith refers to that form of faith that Newman calls fides humana (human faith) or fides acquisita (acquired faith). It is an assent to truths that can be known without the assistance of grace, and it is often described as having a lesser degree of certitude than divine faith. Divine faith, on the other hand, is the assent to revealed truths (the revelation of God in Jesus Christ) that requires grace and is frequently spoken of as having a higher degree of certitude than human faith. When discussing divine faith in the “Papers in Preparation for A Grammar of Assent, 1865—69,” Newman makes a further distinction between Divine Faith (Fides Divina) and Catholic Divine Faith (Fides Divina Catholica) (Theological Papers, 123—33). Divine Faith is the acceptance of private divine revelations on the basis of the authority of God, but not on the basis of the infallible authority of the Catholic Church. Catholic Divine Faith is the acceptance of the public Christian revelation (the revelation of God in Jesus Christ) on the basis of the authority of God revealing through the teachings of the infallible Catholic Church. Consequently, Catholic Divine Faith is the expression that Newman uses to describe his specifically Catholic understanding of faith. It is this notion of faith that is the focus of this book, and for purposes of brevity, from this point on in the book, it will be designated as Catholic faith.
Newman’s mature notion of Catholic faith is the result of a lifelong process of reflection on the meaning of divine faith. This process began in his Anglican years, was developed further in his early Catholic writings, and came to maturity in the Grammar of Assent. The purpose of the first chapter is to trace the major moments of this process in order to present a historical overview of Newman’s theology of faith. This will provide the historical context for understanding how Newman’s mature notion of Catholic faith developed.
Chapter 2 investigates Newman’s early attempts as a Catholic to correlate the notion of faith presented in the University Sermons with the theology of faith found in nineteenth-century Roman Catholic theology. This chapter will focus on Newman’s efforts to clarify the distinction between human faith and divine faith. As a result of these reflections Newman came to realize that the act of Catholic faith has its own distinctive processes that differentiate it from human faith. This realization enabled Newman to focus on the role that reason plays in the act of Catholic faith as distinct from the role that it plays in human faith. Also, these reflections enabled Newman to clearly delineate his specific Catholic understanding of faith, which he called Catholic Divine Faith.
In chapter 3, Newman’s understanding of human certitude is investigated in detail. This chapter analyzes the basic terms that are central to Newman’s understanding of human certitude and explains the relationship between the different terms. After an analysis of Newman’s terminology, this chapter examines Newman’s understanding of the process by which a person arrives at human certitude. The focus here is on the illative sense and the role of the will in the act of human certitude. This chapter is central to the book for it explains the human analogy that serves as the basis for Newman’s mature understanding of Catholic faith.
Chapter 4 presents a constructive and systematic summary of Newman’s mature understanding of Catholic faith. It explains how Newman applies the analogy of human certitude to the act of Catholic faith. This chapter examines Newman’s Catholic notion of faith from the point of view of both the act of faith and the object of faith. The analysis of the act of faith shows that faith, for Newman, is a real assent and an integrated act of the person. The act of faith is a centered act in which personal reasoning, the illative sense, the will, and the grace of God all converge in one total personal response. In describing the object of faith, Newman distinguishes between the propositional expression of God’s revelation and the reality that is being revealed. This chapter also discusses the specific Catholic nature of Newman’s understanding of faith. For Newman, the Catholic Church plays a special and unique role in communicating God’s revelation, the object of faith.
Chapter 5 investigates Newman’s understanding of the relationship between faith and reason in his mature Catholic notion of faith. The first part of this chapter discusses Newman’s mature understanding of the role that reason plays in the process of coming to faith, the evidences of faith. This analysis reveals that, in his mature notion of Catholic faith, Newman settles on a personalist approach to the evidences of faith and moves away from the more rationalistic approach of Roman theology. In the second part of this chapter, the role that rational criticism plays within the actual assent of the act of Catholic faith is discussed. The objective here is to understand how Newman is able to balance the unconditional nature of the commitment of faith with the human mind’s inquisitiveness and thirst for understanding and rational criticism. On the one hand, the commitment of faith is unconditional and immune to certain forms of criticism. Newman addresses this aspect of faith when he discusses certitude, indefectibility, infallibility, and the exclusion of doubt and inquiry. On the other hand, in order to be rational, the commitment of faith must be open to some forms of rational criticism. Newman addresses this aspect of faith when he discusses investigation, the limits of infallibility, theological reflection, historical criticism, and the freedom of conscience.
The final chapter discusses the significance of Newman’s mature understanding of Catholic faith for Catholic theology in this new millennium. Newman’s mature understanding of Catholic faith is significant today for Catholic theology because it is a notion of faith that emphasizes the personalist approach over the intellectual. Contemporary Catholic theology, following the lead of the Second Vatican Council, has made significant progress in defining the Catholic notion of faith according to the personalist model. When Newman’s mature notion of Catholic faith is viewed from the perspective of the two main approaches to defining faith in Catholic theology today, the intellectual and the personalist, it is evident that Newman follows the personalist approach. In his descriptions of both the act of faith and the object of faith, Newman stresses the personal nature of faith. The personal nature of Newman’s notion of Catholic faith can be seen also in his understanding of the relationship between faith and praxis. Newman’s mature notion of Catholic faith provides Catholic theologians today with a personalist epistemology that can well serve as the framework for the future development of the Catholic notion of faith.
Newman’s notion of Catholic faith is also significant for contemporary Catholic theology because it is a personalist approach to faith that insists on the importance and necessity of doctrine and dogma. Equally essential to Newman’s Catholic understanding of faith is his acceptance of the normative teaching role of the magisterium of the Church in the process of communicating God’s personal revelation. Yet, just as Catholics today, particularly Catholic theologians, find themselves in conflict with the magisterium, so Newman, during his lifetime, experienced difficulties in his relationships with the magisterium. Three of Newman’s encounters with the magisterium are investigated in this final chapter, and some suggestions are made about how Newman’s methods of dealing with the magisterium might be helpful for Catholics today, particularly Catholic theologians.
Another aspect of Newman’s notion of Catholic faith that is significant for Catholic faith today is his understanding of the role that rational criticism plays in the act of faith. Newman’s respect for the magisterium and his acceptance of the necessity of doctrine and dogma did not mean that he saw Catholic faith as a blind act of obedience or an uncritical acceptance of the teachings of the Church. For Newman, the response of Catholic faith is compatible with many forms of rational criticism. The implications of Newman’s understanding of the role of rational criticism in the act of faith for Catholic theology today are discussed in this final chapter. Newman’s insistence on the priority of conscience and freedom of thought in the response of faith further demonstrate that Newman emphasized the personal over the intellectual approach to faith. What becomes evidently clear from this discussion is that Newman’s vision of Catholic faith is not a form of uncritical dogmatism.
Toward the end of this final chapter, aspects of Newman’s Catholic notion of faith that appear to be insufficiently developed from the point of view of contemporary Catholic theology are discussed. These include the relationship between faith and doubt, the dimension of social justice, cultural diversity, ecumenism, and interreligious dialogue. Suggestions are made as to how Newman’s theology of faith might be further developed in the future in order to address these issues more effectively. Finally, when all of the elements of Newman’s mature notion of Catholic faith are brought together, it seems that his view of Catholic faith can best be described as critical fidelity. Such a vision of faith can serve the Catholic Church well as it continues to address the needs of Catholics today and as it makes plans to meet the challenges that the Church will face in this new millennium.