H. Conclusion
H. Conclusion
If in Tract 90 (1841), the Anglican Newman overreached his claim of solidarity with Rome, it may be that, in the third edition (1874) of his Lectures, the Catholic Newman gives the appearance of having retained more unity with his Anglican via media than was actually the case. It would certainly be wrong to suggest that Newman left his Anglican position in “shreds and tatters”—Newman’s words from his autobiographical memoir to describe the state of his Calvinism when he had left Evangelicalism decades earlier;846 but it seems clear that his via media developed into a via Romana.
Whether the Catholic Newman eventually rested his doctrine of justification on the formal cause of created grace is inconclusive. If one concentrates on the majority of Newman’s Lectures, which reach back to 1838, the answer is “no.” If, however, one gives priority to the sections that the Catholic Newman added, especially in light of his wider life and ministry, as Morales contends, the answer is probably “yes.” More conclusive is the fact that, by 1874, Newman’s via media had become fully Roman, albeit an unconventional way that leveraged the semantic range of the unica forma causa to emphasize a real sense of imputation and also an internal righteousness, both growing out of the divine presence. This is Newman’s formal cause, in his words:
[Justification] viewed relatively to the past is forgiveness of sin [a real imputation], for nothing more it can be; but considered as to the present and future it is more, it is renewal wrought in us by the Spirit of Him who by His merits completes what is defective in that renewal [real inherent righteousness].”847
In this sense, Newman’s position may be called a duplex iustitia. In the next chapter, we shall compare and contrast this position with that of Peter Martyr Vermigli and other proponents of two-fold righteousness.
669. John Henry Newman,Jfc, 67 [71–72].
670. Ibid., 72 [77]. One of Newman’s most distilled statements on the sufficiency and efficacy of grace is near the conclusion of his sermon “The Mystery of Godliness,” published in 1840, in which he insists, first quoting Titus, “‘‘Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He has saved us.’ We are reminded that we can do nothing, and that God does everything.” Newman, PPS, 1020.
671. Walgrave, Newman the Theologian, 42–44. Newman explains how divine grace overcomes the unrighteousness of original sin in Newman, Jfc., 88–91 [95–96].
672. Bouyer, Newman: His Life and Spirituality, 19.
673. Newman, Jfc., 67 [72].
674. Ibid., 68 [72–73].
675. Ibid., 72 [76–77].
676. Ibid., 63.
677. Ibid. Newman explains his understanding of imputation at some length, 67–78 [72–83].
678. Ibid., 36 [38].
679. Ibid., 79–80 [86].
680. Ibid., 80 [86].
681. Ibid., 80–81 [86–87].
682. Ibid., 101–2 [112].
683. Ibid., 41 [44].
684. Ibid., 57 [61].
685. Ibid., 190 [220].
686. Ibid., 190 [statement contained in Footnote 1 of the Third Edition, absent from the 1838 version].
687. Ibid., 186–87 [216–17].
688. Ibid., 187 [217].
689. Ibid., 63 [112].
690. Ibid., 66 [71].
691. Ibid., 86 [93].
692. Ibid., 86–7 [93–94].
693. Ibid., 88 [95].
694. Ibid.
695. Ibid.
696. Ibid.
697. Church of England, “Articles of Religion, XI,” in The Book of Common Prayer.
698. Ker, Newman on Being a Christian, 39.
699. Newman, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, 6th ed., 324. Elsewhere, Newman identifies the fundamental components of apostolic faith, doctrines that he himself sought to promote, as the Trinity, Incarnation, Atonement, original sin, the necessity of regeneration, supernatural grace mediated through the sacraments, apostolic succession, the necessity of faith and obedience, and the eternal scope of divine judgment. Newman, Certain Difficulties Felt by Anglicans, 128.
700. Dessain, The Spirituality of John Henry Newman, 33–34.
701. Newman, Callista, 254.
702. Flanagan, Newman, Faith and the Believer, 29.
703. The Alexandrians are generally considered to represent the Oxonian Platonists (whom Newman supports), while the Antioch school is a not so thinly veiled reference to so-called rationalists, such as Evangelical literalists.
704. Daley, “The Church Fathers,” 29–46. One might add to this list the disciplina arcani (withholding central mysteries of the Christian faith from catechumens) and the development of oral tradition as a supplement to Scripture.
705. Dessain, “Cardinal Newman and the Eastern Tradition,” 95.
706. Newman, Development of Christian Doctrine, 140.
707. Newman, PPS, 1224–25. This sermon was published in 1842.
708. Ibid., 592.
709. Dessain, The Spirituality of John Henry Newman, 67. Newman explains how the atonement is “continually” being applied to the church in Jfc., 202–4 [233–35].
710. Newman, PPS, 1014.
711. His sermon, “The Visible Church an Encouragement to Faith,” a message published in 1836, makes this point. Newman, PPS, 633–43. See also Newman’s sermon “The Communion of Saints.” (ibid., 839–49).
712. Newman understood the church and the Kingdom of God to be synonymous. Flanagan, Newman, Faith and the Believer, 285, 311.
713. Dessain, The Spirituality of John Henry Newman, 54–55.
714. Newman, Jfc., 278 [318].
715. This charge cannot be fairly leveled against Luther, despite Newman’s insistence on Luther’s general culpability. Luther maintains that sola fide should in no way diminish one’s appreciation for the sacraments. Althaus, The Theology of Martin Luther, 349. Bellarmine corroborates this point with respect to Martin Chemnitz and John Calvin, who “teach that faith alone ought not to be opposed to the sacraments in the business of justification, as it is not opposed to the grace of God and the merits of Christ.” Bellarmine, De Sacramentis in Genere, 99–100.
716. Newman, Jfc., 280–82 [320–22].
717. Ibid., 285–87 [325–27].
718. Ibid., 291–93 [331–33].
719. Newman, Lectures on Justification, v.
720. Gilley, “Life and Writings,” 2–3.
721. Sheridan, Newman on Justification, 153–54.
722. Walgrave, Newman the Theologian, 21.
723. Newman, Jfc., 223 [256].
724. Ibid., 226 [259].
725. Ibid.
726. Ibid., 244 [279].
727. Ibid., 246–47 [281]. The internal and external distinction of faith is Newman’s second response to those who accused him of violating article eleven, after the caveat that justification initiates sanctification.
728. Newman explicitly rejects the notion, attributed to Luther, that faith is the “primary instrument” of justification. Jfc., 244 [279].
729. Ibid., 236–37 [271].
730. Ibid., 252 [288].
731. Newman is keen to point out that evil spirits also have faith; therefore, faith must consist in more than mere belief. Ibid., 253–54 [289–90].
732. Ibid., 266–73 [304–13].
733. Ibid.
734. Ibid., 251 [286].
735. Ibid., 283 [324].
736. Ibid., 182 [211–12].
737. Ibid., 182–88 [211–18].
738. Newman, Verses on Various Occasions, new ed., 363–64.
739. Newman, PPS, 437. This sermon was published in 1835.
740. McGrath, ID, 297.
741. Morales, “Newman and the Problems of Justification,” 146.
742. Newman, Jfc., 147 [163–64].
743. Ibid., 144 [160].
744. Ibid., 150 [167].
745. Ibid.
746. Ibid., 77 [83]. Newman quoting 1 Tim 3:16.
747. Ibid. Newman quoting Rom 1:4.
748. Ibid.
749. Ibid., 77–78 [83–84].
750. Ibid., 173 [200].
751. Morales is quite mistaken to suggest that the theology of the sixteenth century had a synoptic view on double justification. As our examination of Cinquecento Italy has revealed, positions differed considerably among figures such as Bucer, Calvin, Contarini, Gropper, Pole, Seripando, Valdes, and Vermigli. Morales, “Problems of Justification,” 150.
752. Newman, Jfc., 155–57 [176–78].
753. Ibid., 157–62 [179–85]. Newman’s logic contends that since protology typifies eschatology, the progress of redemption from earthly clothing to heavenly clothing suggest that actual righteousness ought to be central in Christian salvation.
754. Ibid., 170–78 [195–207].
755. Ibid., 202 [233]. Newman’s title here reads, “Christ’s Resurrection: The Source of Justification.”
756. Ibid., 156 [177–78].
757. Ibid., 162–63 [186].
758. Ibid., 163 [187].
759. Ibid.
760. Ibid.
761. Ibid., 164 [188].
762. Ibid., 202–3 [233–35].
763. Dessain, “The Biblical Basis of Newman’s Ecumenical Theology,” 113.
764. Newman, Jfc., 56–57 [61].
765. Ibid., 192 [223].
766. Ibid., 193 [223–24].
767. Newman, PPS, 1282–94. This sermon was published in 1842.
768. Ibid., 1282.
769. Ibid., 1287.
770. Ibid.
771. Ibid.
772. Ibid., 1290.
773. Ibid., 1294.
774. Ibid., 368.
775. For a fuller treatment of how Newman correlated the Trinity and the Spirit, see Strange, Newman and the Gospel of Christ, 153–55.
776. Newman, Jfc., 208 [240].
777. Because Newman insists that adherent righteousness is a form of gratia increata that remains distinct from one’s soul, some interpreters have described it as an “alien” righteousness: for example, O’Leary, “Impeded Witness,” 167 and Holtzen, “Newman’s ‘Via Media’ Theology of Justification,” 72. Holtzen says of Newman’s position, for instance, that “the alien righteousness of Christ exists internally as the proper formal cause of justification.” Since Newman, like Vermigli, does not actually use the word “alien,” we have avoided using the term. However, in view of the fact that Newman defines justification as nothing less than “the very Presence of Christ” (Jfc., 150 [167]), there is a sense in which this righteousness is properly “alien.” Sheridan thus says of Newman’s position, “Our justification, while in us, is not of us.” Sheridan, Newman on Justification, 248.
778. Ibid., 63 [67].
779. Ibid., 65 [70].
780. Ibid.
781. Ibid., 64–65 [68–70].
782. On the use of Petavius in Bishop George Bull, see Thomas, Newman and Heresy, 171–73.
783. Baumgartner, La grâce du Christ, 190.
784. Holtzen, “Union with God and the Holy Spirit,” 31.
785. Petavius, “De Trinitate,” 453–62.
786. Rondet, The Grace of Christ, 367.
787. Newman, Jfc., xii.
788. Ibid., 349 [395].
789. Ibid., 199–200 [230].
790. Ibid., 200 [231].
791. Ibid., 351 [397].
792. Ibid., 86 [93].
793. Ibid., 348–52 [394–98].
794. Ibid., 352 [398].
795. Ibid., 187 [218].
796. Ibid., 139 [155].
797. Ibid., 151 [168].
798. Ibid., 134 [148].
799. Newman, PPS, xi, 10, 1270. These sermons were published between 1834 and 1843.
800. Newman, Jfc., 150 [167].
801. Ibid., xi, 337 [386], 381–82 [423–25], 392 [425–26].
802. Ibid., 199–200 [230].
803. Ibid., 162–63 [186].
804. Ibid., 58–61, 64–65 [52–55, 68–70]. Newman usually refers to Augustine as “Saint Austin.”
805. Ibid., 65 [69–70].
806. Ibid., 101 [112].
807. Newman, Jfc., 1st ed., 386, 427.
808. Ibid., 95, 70.
809. Newman, Jfc., x–xi.
810. Ibid.
811. Ibid., xi.
812. Ibid.
813. Ibid., xii.
814. Ibid., 190 [220].
815. Ibid., 186 [163].
816. Newman qualifies this statement in a footnote, “It requires a considerable acquaintance with the working of the Catholic system to have the right thus to speak of it.” Ibid., 186.
817. The first edition of Newman’s Lectures (1838), also contain an appendix entitled, “On the formal cause of Justification” [Newman, Jfc., 1st ed., 391–443]. At fifty-two pages in length, there are no substantive differences from the third edition apart from explanatory notes that appear on pages 343, 348–49, and 353.
818. Newman, Jfc., 343.
819. “On the Gift of Righteousness,” and “The Characteristics of the Gift of Righteousness.” These titles are the same in both versions of the Lectures. See ibid., 130–54; 155–78; [143–75; 176–207].
820. Newman’s first edition has a four page “Note on Lecture VI” (Jfc., 1st ed., 172–75.), which examines his thesis from the Homilies. Drawing continuity with Anglicanism is less of a concern for the Catholic Newman.
821. Sheridan, Newman on Justification, 242. In context, Sheridan is concerned with illustrating the centrality of baptism. Elsewhere Sheridan makes this same point with regard to Newman’s position on faith alone, “As a matter of fact, in the third edition (1874) he [Newman] simply denied it [the instrumentality of faith alone], albeit merely in a footnote. “Catholics hold that, not faith only, but faith, hope, and charity, are the ‘sustaining causes of justification.” Ibid., 255.
822. Newman, Jfc., 101.
823. ibid.
824. Ibid., 73.
825. See chapters 7, 10–11, and 16 in Tanner, Decrees, 673–76; 677–78.
826. Newman, Jfc., 151–52 [168–69].
827. Ibid., 164 [188].
828. Ibid., 178 [207].
829. Morales, “Problems of Justification,” 157.
830. Ibid.
831. Ibid.
832 Augustine, “The Spirit and the Letter,” 228–29.
833. Newman, Jfc., 80 [86].
834. Newman writes in the appendix of the third edition, “However, a few words of explanation are called for here in relation to two propositions of the Volume, which he distinctly professed to be at variance, but (as he now believes) are not really at variance, with the doctrines held in the Roman schools of recent times on the subject of justification.” Ibid., x.
835. Instead, Newman posits the diametric opposition of Protestantism and Pelagianism instead of a via media between Protestantism and Romanism. Morales, “Problems of Justification,” 155.
836. Dessain, “Cardinal Newman and the Doctrine of Uncreated Grace,” 285.
837. Sheridan, Newman on Justification, 255.
838. Holtzen, “Union with God,” 183. For a more recent treatment by Holtzen, in which he argues that Newman’s theology of justification is a true via media between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, see Holtzen, “Newman’s ‘Via Media’ Theology of Justification,” 64–74.
839. Holtzen, “Union with God,” 178.
840. Ibid. Holtzen cites three alterations to the third edition of Newman’s Lectures. In addition to a movement toward inherent righteousness and the addition of sixteen explanatory notes, he points out the “addition of an extensive sixty-one page appendix on the formal cause of justification.” Holtzen’s confusion is perhaps due to the initial footnote of the appendix which may give the impression that it was a subsequent addition (Newman, Jfc., 343). However, it is the footnote that was added to the Lectures, not the appendix itself.
841. Newman, Jfc., 343 [391].
842. Ibid., 154 [170–71].
843. Ibid., 368 [414].
844. Holtzen, “Union with God,” 178.
845. Newman, Jfc., 164 [188].
846. Newman, Letters and Correspondence, 106.
847. Newman, Jfc., 36 [38].