A few brushstrokes about a great author,  JH Newman,  a driving force for change in English society, who left a great legacy for all time… He was a very relevant figure in the Oxford Movement, which sought to revitalize the Anglican Church, so subordinate to the power of the Crown since the 16th century.

H. Newman was born in 1801 in England, and lived in the Victorian era of this country, with his prejudices firmly rooted.

She emerges as a luminous figure, driven by reason, thought, and study, with great effort and dedication,  in her search for truth. But in that search, she finds something she didn’t expect…

One of his mottos is: “From shadows and images to truth .” It is written on his epitaph, and it reflects and encapsulates a bit of his life. It is an example of fidelity to the inner light,  which guides him toward the truth…

* A little bit about his life

He was born in London into an Anglican family of his time, although his mother was of French origin and Calvinist.

At the age of 15, he resolved to live his faith in God seriously and declared his desire to live a celibate life: it was what he believed God wanted for him. At that time, he was involved in evangelicalism and the Low Church of England, the more moderate branch of Anglicanism.

Later, he would discover God as a luminous presence within him , encouraging him to a profound investigation. And that light would guide him throughout his life in his search for what is right, for truth… through much study and intellectual cultivation at Oxford University. There, he gradually drew closer to the High Church, the Anglican branch of the Church of England most closely aligned with Catholicism.

He prepares well, and through a competitive examination, he becomes a fellow at Oxford, which allows him to come into contact with prestigious professors and clergymen at that university. He is very affable and makes many friends, whom he maintains throughout his life.

At the age of 24, as he had foreseen, he was  ordained an Anglican priest of the High Church. At that time, he had many academic activities on the Oxford university campus , as well as pastoral duties at St. Mary the Virgin Church on campus, which was affiliated with the university. He delivered sermons to students and professors, which were useful to both Anglicans and Catholics, offering well-thought-out and practical insights.

He was appointed rector of that church in 1828, and he wrote theological treatises in that very specialized academic field. Moreover, he lived out what he studied : he prayed it and expounded on it in his sermons; it was even printed and distributed throughout England. He didn’t just stop at beautiful ideas.

In 1832, he embarked on a journey through the Mediterranean  with a sick friend, seeking a better climate for him. There he encountered landscapes of classical antiquity and early Christianity  in  Rome, which captivated him from his profound study of the early Church Fathers. Afterward, he bid them farewell and returned to Sicily, which he loved so much. There he fell very ill. He had the sensation of perceiving something luminous within him  , leaving an indelible mark and a deep longing. A light that illuminated him wondrously,  revealing to him that God had a unique mission for him . 

He is still amazed, and he explains it this way: “I am called to be or to do something that no one else is called to. I occupy a place in God’s plan on earth that no one else occupies. Whether rich or poor, despised or praised by men, God knows me and calls me by name.”  

He returns to England, to his Oxford environment…

His prodigious academic work , his great thoughts, which he tries to put into practice and makes known in sermons and pamphlets that are printed and reach many… That is to say, thought , heart , and action . 

He wanted to revitalize the Church of England, which had been subject to the political power of the State since the 16th century and was under attack from the liberalism and relativism of the time. In 1833, the Oxford Movement was formed, and he became a prominent figure in it, along with other intellectuals, including his friend, whom he had taken around the Mediterranean: R. Froude.

In 1834, he published more of his sermons in pamphlets or “Tracts of the Times.” In them, he addressed aspects he believed needed to be changed, both in theology and in the relationship with the state. All of this led to a somewhat polemical activity… Soon after, his close friend Froude died, and he himself published his memoirs.

He points out that Anglicanism is a middle ground between two conceptions: Protestantism, amalgamated with fashionable liberalism, relativism, and exacerbated sentimentality, and Roman Catholicism. He believes that the latter  preserves the authentic faith  of the apostles, but perhaps it has become somewhat “dusty” or degraded by the passage of time…

He knows that the true faith is in the primitive Church of the Fathers and the first Councils, for in them the apostolic doctrine is contained.

And he raises many doubts, which keep growing, regarding Anglicanism… He comes to the conclusion that if it is a “farce”, it will collapse under its own weight…

In 1841, after much study, reflection and research, he made a  critique of the foundations of the Church of England and the 39 “articles of faith” proposed by Queen Elizabeth I of England in 1563, for their lack of coherent principles and their ambiguity, so that everyone would like them and no one would be left out.

The Bishops react and the Tracts are suspended, and members of the Oxford Movement are frowned upon in academic circles, and also  attacked in the press.

He clearly sees that the lust for power is not good for a Church; they even want to take the leap to positions in Jerusalem… for the Protestant Church.

Thus he gradually distanced himself from Oxford… and in 1843 he preached his last sermon there. He went to Littlemore and organized himself in another small church dependent on St. Mary’s, Oxford. He published more of his earlier sermons and associated with young people and students, for whom he made rooms available… And he focused on writing to explain the development of the Christian faith.

Building on this intellectual work and his in-depth study of the origins of Christianity, he wrote the essay  “The Development of Christian Doctrine.” In it, he presents ideas about doctrine as something living that grows and develops throughout history— not static and unchanging, but alive.  He also offers reflections to distinguish between genuine development and corruption. 

For him, authentic religion must be dogmatic because it is based on firm principles that support it. Liberalism, or relativism, cannot be sustained; everything is a matter of opinion …

And he will come to his conversion to the Catholic Church , upon discovering that clear, spiritual truth, as a unified whole, which touches his heart . And that inner light that guides and illuminates him , which will never be extinguished … closely related to conscience. It will be in the year 1845, in Littlemore, and he is welcomed by an Italian Passionist priest: Domenico Barbieri.

In that essay on the development of doctrine, he compares it to a “seed” that germinates in the Church, adapting to new eras but without altering its essence. It has an internal principle that drives it to change and develop: gradual, progressive, from within. It is something that must change in order to grow and develop,  without losing its essence or altering its principles.   

In this sense, one of his thoughts that reflects this idea is: “To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed frequently.” The growth of that seed in each person gives them vitality, a yearning to seek beauty and the infinite, and coherence with faith: a faith embraced with the heart, made life.

After his conversion, he painfully left those environments: in 1846 he went to Oscott, and a little later to Rome.

He knows that the truth sets us free, and that this truth must be known with the intellect, and also grasped with the heart , for it is something spiritual, as God himself is.  Therefore, faith and reason are not opposed, but rather support each other.

To be continued…