ARTICLES

It is often asserted that Newman was an invisible peritus at the Second Vatican Council—in a sense, Newman was a “Father of the Modern Church.” But what does it mean to be a “Father of the Church”?  This article reflects on selected aspects of Newman’s thought that were influential at Vatican II and continue to be important today.

Most people believe in an afterlife, but is such a belief warranted?  While Newman did not specifically treat the doctrine of afterlife, his Grammar of Assent furnishes a trajectory that shows that Christians can believe in this doctrine with a warranted assent, precisely because the Church is a warranted belief.

Edward Jeremy Miller, a professor of theology at Gwynedd-Mercy College, Gwynedd Valley, PA, presented a shorter version of this essay at the Newman Seminar at the annual convention of The Catholic Theological Society of America, St. Louis, Missouri, June 9–12, 2005; the convention’s general theme was “Resurrection of the Body.”

Hopkins and Newman on Poetry
Fredric W. Schlatter, S.J.
 

This article examines two statements that Hopkins made on Newman as a poet and as a critic of poetry.  Hopkins carefully analyzed the literary genealogy of Newman’s poetry, indifferently assessed its general achievement, and specifically criticized one point in Newman’s judgment of a poet.  Hopkins’ statements, which came late in his own career, give no hint of a process of change in his response to Newman’s poetry.  But Newman’s numerous remarks, gleaned from random sources over forty years, demonstrate change in his theory of poetry.

Fredric W. Schlatter, S.J., a Professor Emeritus of Classical Languages at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, has published several studies on Gerard Manley Hopkins. 

The Church Calendar in John Henry Newman's Loss and Gain
Michael Pino
 

Victorian devotional life, both Anglican and Roman Catholic, often focused on the feast days of the Church.  Indeed, even the three academic sessions at Oxford University were named after the feast days at the beginning of each term: Michaelmas (St. Michael, September 29), Hilary (January 14), and Trinity (First Sunday after Pentecost); similarly, events on the ecclesiastical calendar often anchored events in Victorian religious novels.  This article explores the possible symbolism in the feast days that frame events in Newman’s novel, Loss and Gain.

Michael Pino, who recently completed a study of the connotations and spiritual implications of religious recluses in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century British writing, is currently working on a projected study of Coleridge's translations from the Talmud.

Gladstone and Newman
Edward Short

Edward Short is working on a book about Newman and his contemporaries. 

The Laity as a Factor of Progress: John Henry Newman and Friedrich von Hügel
C.J.T. Talar

Newman’s defense of the role of the laity in the development of doctrine not only occasioned a negative reaction from the Vatican, it had continued reverberations among his followers. This essay examines Newman’s influence on Baron Friedrich von Hügel and then compares the Baron’s positions with those Newman’s biographer, Wilfred Ward.

Rev. C. J. T. Talar is a professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Theology at St. Mary’s Seminary and Center for Pastoral Studies, Houston, TX.

PASTORAL VIGNETTE

Newman the Businessman
Drew Morgan, C.O.

This vignette reflects the pastoral care that Newman gave in so many areas of his life, even the life of business.

Fr. Drew Morgan, C.O., is a priest of The Oratory of St. Philip Neri in Pittsburgh, PA.  He is the Director of the National Institute for Newman Studies in Pittsburgh, PA, and teaches at St. Vincent Seminary in Latrobe, PA.