Reviews (7)

To this day, the definitive work on the subject.
Before I begin my review, allow me one caveat: the casual reader, to be sure, who stumbles upon this work after seeing it quoted in popular apologetics books (i.e. Keating's Catholicism and Fundamentalism), risks being in over his/her head completely.Such was the case with me about 3 and a half years ago when I was starting out my study of doctrine and history.For 3 years this book sat on my shelf, all attemts that I made to read it having failed because I lacked the proper foundation.It was only after I spent considerable time studying history and especially the ancient heresies that I was able to grasp what Newman was saying.The following example, taken from a passage found on pages 314-315, should demonstrate my point:

Subjects:  1. Catholic Church    2. Christianity - Catholicism    3. Christianity - Theology - Catholic    4. Doctrines    5. Dogma, Development of    6. Religion    7. Religion - Classic Works    8. Roman Catholic Doctrinal Theology (General)    9. Spirituality - General    10. Christian doctrinal theology   

Reviews (2)

Modern Christian Philosophy at Its Best
"A Grammar of Assent" by J. H. Newman is without doubt the most elegant, eloquent, and persuasive argument yet for the belief in God by any Christian philosopher. Despite its 19th-century origins, it remains one of the most modern of Christian philosophies yet. Gone are all references to Aristotle and Aquinas and their antediluvian methodologies of a priori logic to "prove" the existence of God and why it is supposedly "rational" to believe in such a God.
Among Newman's Best
This "essay" is a tour d'force of the force of the power of inferential versus deductive reasoning. This is an unique aposteriori argument for the existence of God, but unfolds an argument in a mannerwholly different from the past, such as Aquinas, for example. Newman is avery persuasive author, who uses his evidence judiciously and validly.People of faith will find this exposition worth the perspective. Read more

Subjects:  1. Christianity - Theology - General    2. Philosophy    3. Religion - Theology    4. Grammar & vocabulary   

Editorial Review

Like other volumes in the Vintage Spiritual Classics series, John Henry Newman's Read more

Reviews (6)

Intellectual Musings On Faith
John Henry Newman spent most of his long life making the principles of his Christian faith, first as an Anglican and later as a Roman Catholic Cardinal, clear and easily understandable to his audiences.A gifted writer and speaker, his lectures and sermons still resonate today.Although I am neither Catholic nor Anglican, his assurances of God's love and of sustaining faith have always attracted me.Recently, as I have suffered through the final illness and death of my mother, I have found in this volume a new source of comfort.
Buy it.Read it.Lectio Divina.
Not many words from me.This volume of Newman is simply a "must read."Read and meditate.You'll send some as gifts.It IS that good.
Inspiring and Instructive
Reverent of, obedient to, and profoundly in love with God-this is what Cardinal Newman is all about, and this is how he encourages us to live.His sermons may be instructive, admonishing, or inspirational, but are always enlightening, challenging, and reasoned.He has a remarkable ability to interpret God's Word in ways that hit home to everyday people.He conveys the sense of urgency with which we must turn from sin, yet understands our nature enough to know it takes time and enormous patience.Well worth reading!! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 19th century    2. Christianity - Catholicism    3. Christianity - General    4. Church of England    5. Faith    6. Meditations    7. Prayers    8. Religion    9. Religion - Classic Works    10. Sermons    11. Sermons - Christian    12. Sermons, English    13. Christian liturgy, prayerbooks & hymnals    14. Christian theology    15. Religion / Christianity   

Reviews (1)

Simply Amazing
If you are looking for a book that will change your life .. This is the one!!!!!
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Subjects:  1. 1801-1890    2. Aims and objectives    3. Education    4. Education / Teaching    5. Education, Higher    6. Higher    7. Newman, John Henry,    8. Philosophy    9. Philosophy Of Higher Education    10. Higher & further education    11. Ireland    12. Newman, John Henry    13. Other prose: classical, early & medieval    14. Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholic Church   

Reviews (1)

"Divine Dispensations"
In the last selection from The Rule of Our Warfare, John Henry Newman begins, "[a]ll God's dealings with His creatures have two aspects, one external, one internal," and, in a postmodern world that all too often bids us to serve only the pleasures and politics of the former, this book provides a much needed account of the Christian's obligations to both.I come back regularly to certain pieces: "Living Faith," "Contintual Conversion," "Devotion and Intellect," "Fasting and Feasting," "The Defect of 'Cheerful' Religion," "Neglecting the One Thing Needful," "Self-Deceit and Self-Knowledge," "Putting Away Childish Things," "The Sternness of Scripture," "The Unseen," and "Divine Dispensations."Indeed, it seems that the "One Thing Needful," that is, self-examination and self-denial, is the one thing that atheist body-snatchers in the academy and American Catholics(Fr. McBrien, I am sorry to say) alike can agree to ignore as an instrument of the "Disciplines," as pre-Vatican II piety, as superstitious "Catholic guilt."It is unfortunate that such scholars, despite all their talk about liberation and apocalypse, are content with such a mediocre faith (post-structuralism, after all, is just another sacred scripture, isn't it?), and such a mediocre existence, that they truly fear the most common devotional gesture.NewmanRead more

Subjects:  1. Christianity - Theology - General    2. Religion - Theology   

Reviews (1)

Newman's Interior Life
Newman is rarely perceived as a private fellow, known more for his public writings and activities. This fine compilation of Newman's own spiritual writings shows Newman was ever the same person, private or public. These "interior" writings have the same landscape and flavor that his public writings do -- without the usual rhetorical flourishes. And that's what makes this volume disappoint. Newman is exquisite when it comes to logic, rhetoric, and exposition, among the very best of the Victorian Age. Strip his writings of his logic and exegesis, and the eisegesis becomes somewhat banal and distant. This interior exposition cannot be compared to that of the Carmelites or other spiritualists. It's genuine Newman -- intelligent and mannered, but not a very exciting read. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Devotional    2. Inspirational    3. Inspirational - General    4. Personal Christian testimony & popular inspirational works   

Reviews (11)

Beautifully Written
It is interesting to note that John Henry Cardinal Newman's Apologia Pro Vita Sua is as well regarded for its literary value
Apologize For Nothing; Explain Everything
"Apologia Pro Vita Sua" is John Henry Cardinal Newman's explanation of his religious views and actions from 1833 to the time of his writing in 1864.In order to understand this work, it must be understood that "Apologia" is translated more precisely as an explanation, rather than as an apology.Newman apologizes for nothing.He explains everything. Apologize For Nothing; Explain Everything
"Apologia Pro Vita Sua" is John Henry Cardinal Newman's explanation of his religious views and actions from 1833 to the time of his writing in 1864.In order to understand this work, it must be understood that "Apologia" is translated more precisely as an explanation, rather than as an apology.Newman apologizes for nothing.He explains everything.Read more

Subjects:  1. 1801-1890    2. Apologetic works    3. Biography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Cardinals    6. Catholic Church    7. Christianity - General    8. Christianity - Theology - Apologetics    9. Christianity - Theology - Catholic    10. England    11. Newman, John Henry,    12. Religion    13. Religious    14. Religion / Christianity   

Reviews (4)

A very good book
I notice that "A reader" says that this is not the complete "Idea of a University." I didn't know that (I'm reading it for a class). I won't be rating what Yale took out; just this book. It is amazing how relative it is to today. His discussion of religion's place in the school system is particularly interesting and I can't help but think of Yeshiva University when I'm reading. One thing that I find extremely interesting is his criticizing of the University doing a brief study of a smattering of studies instead of a large study of one subject. He doesn't seem (to me at least, and I might have missed it) to provide a grand solution, but what is so interesting is that while it is still a problem I personally had noticed before reading this, I hadn't know someone else had written about it in a scholarly manner.

This is NOT Newman's IDEA OF A UNIVERSITY!
Unfortunately, this Yale edition leaves out about half of what Newman himself published in 1873 as the definitive edition of THE IDEA OF A UNIVERSITY. Published here are only the nine "Dublin Discourses" from Part I on "University Teaching" and but four of the ten chapters of Part II, "University Subjects Discussed in Occasional Lectures and Essays."For the hundred-page displacement of Newman's essays, the editor substitutes five interpretive essays supposedly inquiring into the relevance of Newman's book for today's higher education debates.These interpretive essays have major inconsistencies and repetitions among themselves and are of mixed quality, with inaccuracies and serious misunderstandings of some of Newman's central ideas.As accurate forays of the Newmanian mind into the twentieth- and twenty-first century university, only the engaging and intellectually challenging essays by George Marsden and George Landow succeed. (COMPLETE paperback editions of Newman's IDEA are available from Loyola University Press, 1987, andUniversity of Notre Dame Press, 1982).

In Defense of Knowledge
Newman's work is not only an eloquent, erudite, and careful defense of the virtue of knowledge and the value of a liberal education; it is also a brilliantly reasoned and felt argument for the prevention of hubris on thepart of any particular branch of knowledge.Read more

Subjects:  1. Education    2. Education / Teaching    3. Education, Higher    4. Higher    5. Philosophy    6. Philosophy & Social Aspects    7. Universities and colleges    8. Literary Criticism & Collections / General   

Subjects:  1. Religion & Spirituality / Christianity   

Subjects:  1. Arianism    2. Early Church (To 476)    3. Fathers Of The Church (Christianity)    4. History    5. Reference    6. Religion    7. Religion - Commentaries / Reference    8. Spirituality - General    9. Christian spirituality    10. Christian theology    11. Early Church   

Reviews (1)

Soul Food Par Excellence
No one plumbs the deeps of faith more illuminatingly than John Henry Newman, and in these fifteen sermons he affirms the dignity of our state with an eloquence and conviction that place him in the very first rank ofCatholic apologists.Read more

Subjects:  1. 19th century    2. Anglican Communion    3. Christianity - History - General    4. Church of England    5. Homiletics    6. Preaching    7. Religion    8. Religion - Worship - Preaching    9. Sermons    10. Sermons - Christian    11. Sermons, English    12. Christian ministry & pastoral activity    13. England    14. English    15. c 1800 to c 1900   

Subjects:  1. Christianity - Christian Life - General    2. Christianity - History - General    3. Church history    4. Primitive and early church, ca    5. Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600    6. Religion    7. Religion - Church History   

Subjects:  1. Catholic Church    2. Christianity - Catholicism    3. Christianity - Theology - Catholic    4. Doctrines    5. General    6. Miscellanea    7. Newman, John Henry    8. Religion    9. Religion - Classic Works    10. Anglican & Episcopalian Churches    11. Christian theology    12. Religion: general    13. Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholic Church   

Reviews (4)

A Spiritual Classic
John Henry Newman's Parochial and Plain Sermons are without a doubt one of the genuine classics of Western spirituality. If you are looking to get your spiritual house in order, buy this book.Newman was that rare genius and saint able to appeal to both the heart and the intellect at the same time.From the very first sermon, entitled, "Holiness, Without Which Man Shall Not See God," the reader is drawn to take seriously the urgency of conversion and spiritual reform.You will walk away from this text wondering how you could have ever done anything other than put God first in your daily life!Moreover, the book appeals to modern man's sense of reason.One of Newman's greatest contributions is to show just how reasonable the act of faith is and how foolish it is to fail to make that act. But more than anything Newman will convince you that with God what matters is doing His will, not just talking about your relationship with Jesus while ignoring the Lord's commands to repent and be converted. This book is guaranteed to help you in your spiritual growth while educating you theologically, no matter where you are on the journey.Eminently readable.These are sermons, not theological treatises. This book is of equal value to non-Catholics as well as Catholics, written as they were in Newman's pre-Catholic, evangelical phase.

A Modern "Father" of the Church from the Age of Victoria
Newman is a master with English prose, craftily writing each sentence, paragraph, page, and chapter thoughtfully and eloquently. As a master of prose, if, for no other reason, he deserves wide readership. Newman Masterfully Blends Doctrine With the Spiritual Life
In these sermons Newman shows that the ultimate purpose of Church Doctrine is to grow in the spiritual life--to attain unity with God amidst the lures of the world.In addition, the themes he touches on are so contemporaryfor this day that you'd think he had written them yesterday.Newmandemonstrates that the truths of the Christian faith are timeless. Read more

Subjects:  1. 19th century    2. Anglican Communion    3. Christianity - Theology - Catholic    4. Church of England    5. Devotional    6. England    7. Newman, John Henry    8. Religion    9. Religion - Inspirational/Spirituality    10. Sermons    11. Sermons - General    12. Sermons, English    13. Christian ministry & pastoral activity    14. Christian theology   

Reviews (1)

Great work; horrible edition
James Gaffney, the editor of this volume of three Newman works, has got to be kidding. Just look at the back cover via the "Search Inside" feature. Portraying Newman as the champion of the use of one's conscience as the sole guide to one's moral decisions is laughable, especially considering how easily the conscience can be malformed (such as through immoral indoctrination). Even worse, Gaffney portrays Newman as promoting the idea that the Church's views on faith and morals must change with each era's "new ways of understanding." On the contray, Newman is the champion of the Catholic Church's notion of the development of doctrine which includes the belief that matters of faith and morals dogmatically defined (i.e. declared as binding on the faith of the people) are preserved from error. While the Church has developed its doctrines (such as with the Virgin Mary, indulgences, and purgatory), these doctrines are believed to be fully in-line with the original deposit of faith given to the apostles, principally Peter via "the keys," by Jesus Christ. Gaffney doesn't stop there. Even worse, he portrays Newman as promoting the idea that the laity "are the source and final seal of the church's teaching; thus the Bishops must listen to them." On the contary, Newman viewed the laity as important for the development of doctrine, especially with the Marian doctrines, but he did not view them as the ultimate ratifiers of doctrine...such would be wholly contrary to his argument in An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine. It should also be considered that Newman's views on both the laity and the papacy developed over the years. For instance, originally he opposed the First Vatican Council's plans to dogmatically define "papal infallibility" and for various reasons such as how it would be worded (see Avery Dulles' article in Theological Studies journal), but he ultimately agreed with the decision and promoted it.
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Subjects:  1. Catholic Church    2. Christianity - Canon & Ecclesiastical Law    3. Christianity - Catholicism    4. Conscience    5. Dogma, Development of    6. Individual Theologians And Their Works (General)    7. Infallibility    8. Popes    9. Religion    10. Religion - Classic Works    11. Religious aspects    12. Roman Catholic Doctrinal Theology (General)    13. Religion / Roman Catholicism   

Subjects:  1. General    2. Philosophy    3. Cultural studies    4. Modern Western philosophy, c 1600 to the present   

Subjects:  1. Christianity - Catholicism    2. Religion   

Subjects:  1. Anglican Communion    2. Catholic Church    3. Church of England    4. Devotional    5. Devotional calendars    6. Meditations    7. Prayer    8. Religion    9. Religion - Prayer & Spirituality    10. Worship   

Subjects:  1. Blessed Virgin, Saint    2. Christianity - Theology - General    3. Mary,    4. Maryology    5. Meditations    6. Newman, John Henry    7. Religion    8. Anglican & Episcopalian Churches    9. Christian theology    10. Mary    11. Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholic Church    12. Saints & hagiography   

Subjects:  1. 1801-1890    2. 19th century    3. Anglican Communion    4. Catholic Church    5. Christianity - Theology - Catholic    6. Church of England    7. Doctrines    8. England    9. History    10. Newman, John Henry    11. Newman, John Henry,    12. Religion    13. Religion - Classic Works    14. Spirituality    15. Anglican & Episcopalian Churches    16. CATHOLIC CHURCH_DOCTRINES    17. CHURCH OF ENGLAND_DOCTRINES    18. Christian theology    19. NEWMAN, JOHN HENRY, 1801-1890    20. Religion / Catholicism    21. Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholic Church