John Henry Newman and the English Sensibility - Distant Scene

John Henry Newman and the English Sensibility: Distant Scene



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English | 152 pages | T&T Clark (May 4, 2023) | 0567689018 | EPUB | 9.57 Mb

Asides about John Henry Newman being either particularly English or particularly un-English are common. John Henry Newman and the English Sensibility scrutinises Newman's theological writings to establish how his theology can be considered distinctively English or un-English at the different stages of its development.

In his Tractarian period, Newman's theology is shown to be profoundly characterised by common 19th-century tropes of a perceived English sensibility, namely an instinct for compromise, an affection for reserve and a markedly empirical orientation to life. In the period following Newman's conversion to Catholicism in 1845, however, his theology turns against the Englishness of his earlier years as he critiques of the many theological dangers of a self-confident cultural sensibility. In his mature writings, nonetheless, Newman re-incorporates certain elements of his earlier Englishness with a Catholic grounding, yet also maintains an antipathy to certain targets of his post-conversion polemics.