Fifteen Sermons Preached before the University of Oxford Between A.D. 1826 and 1843

by John Henry Newman

These remarkable sermons by John Henry Newman (1801-1890) were first published at Oxford in 1843, two years before he was received into the Roman Catholic Church. Published here in its entirety is the third edition of 1872 for which Newman added an additional sermon, bracketed notes, and, importantly, a comprehensive, condensed Preface. In her introduction, noted Newman scholar Mary Katherine Tillman considers the volume as an integral whole, showing how all of the sermons systematically relate to the central theme of the faith-reason relationship.

Genres: Theology, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Victorian, Catholic, Religion, Christian

428 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1896

About the author

Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman was an important figure in the religious history of England in the 19th century. He was known nationally by the mid-1830s.
Originally an evangelical Oxford University academic and priest in the Church of England, Newman then became drawn to the high-church tradition of Anglicanism. He became known as a leader of, and an able polemicist for, the Oxford Movement, an influential and controversial grouping of Anglicans who wished to return to the Church of England many Catholic beliefs and liturgical rituals from before the English Reformation. In this the movement had some success. However, in 1845 Newman, joined by some but not all of his followers, left the Church of England and his teaching post at Oxford University and was received into the Catholic Church. He was quickly ordained as a priest and continued as an influential religious leader, based in Birmingham. In 1879, he was created a cardinal by Pope Leo XIII in recognition of his services to the cause of the Catholic Church in England. He was instrumental in the founding of the Catholic University of Ireland, which evolved into University College Dublin, today the largest university in Ireland.

Newman was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI on 19 September 2010 during his visit to the United Kingdom. He was then canonised by Pope Francis on 13 October 2019.

Newman was also a literary figure of note: his major writings including the Tracts for the Times (1833–1841), his autobiography Apologia Pro Vita Sua (1865–66), the Grammar of Assent (1870), and the poem The Dream of Gerontius (1865),[6] which was set to music in 1900 by Edward Elgar. He wrote the popular hymns "Lead, Kindly Light" and "Praise to the Holiest in the Height" (taken from Gerontius).

Reviews

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leer a Jonh Henry Newman siempre es una buena opción.

[Carlos Carrasco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Los sermones predicados por Newman sobre la fe y la razón tienen un toque intelectual y a su vez son inteligibles, capaces de mover a cualquier persona interesada en buscar la Verdad. Son sermones que llevan a Dios, poniendo cada cosas en su lugar. Con un lenguaje sencillo desarrolla sobre la relación, constantemente puesta en duda, entre fe y razón. Además, la elegancia de los sermones, pone de manifiesto el personalismo de Newman. Sin duda creo que es una lectura bastante edificante para cualquier persona corriente. Al final, los sermones invitan al lector a tener un deseo más ardiente por vivir de acuerdo a esa Verdad que se nos ha revelado. Es una invitación a ser santos.

[Joshua Ocon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Katherine Tillman is correct when she describes this collection of sermons as forming a harmonic treatise on the relationship between faith and reason. What's more astounding is that St. John Henry Newman demonstrates this not only from the standpoint of philosophy but more so from his profound reflections on scriptural passages. Some sermons are notably denser than others, but each one is worth reading and reviewing again and again.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nobody holds vacuous opinions and when pressed far enough, the unqualified antecedent assent, upon which any further acceptance relies, is easily uncovered. Although touch is the most potent of the senses, it is also the most constricted. Contrariwise, faith is feeble but its range, unlimited.

[Earl Pestano · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just okay.

[Joseph Pearce · Rating 5 out of 5]

An examination of faith and reason with insights that still challenge the reader.

[Declan Huerta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Something I really like of this collection of sermons is the fact that they are contemporary to his process of conversion from his early evangelical feelings to his final efforts to strengthen his catholic intuitions. Some of the ideas present in this sermons are still powerful and suggestive to our present day minds.

[Jessica]

This prompted the deepest, most intense, most rewarding, and most difficult thinking I have done in a long while. Sermons X through XIV in particular, a brilliantly progressive account of the relationship between faith and reason, gratified my patience in slogging through the first two-thirds and answered my purposes in resorting to Newman this time around. The questions that preoccupy me most aren’t personal in any customary sense of the word, and lately they’ve verged on surpassing portable proportions. Some people seek therapy: I seek spiritual counsel, which is another way of saying that I’m after someone who is wise. No living person I know fits the description, sadly, and no one but Newman came to mind as a possible resource for the question that absorbed me most. Well, I can’t claim to have properly received his answer if I’m anything short of conversion, but the process of digesting it was one of the most instructive experiences I’ve had in the near to distant past. Newman’s is such a gifted mind (and is there something miraculous about his writing, I wonder?) that it marks an occasion to think with it; the range, complexity, erudition, and elegance of his discussion would be staggering if his ideas weren’t such rousing summons to thought. It only took the premise that faith “may be examined and defined as any other power of the mind,” a premise with which I think much of Newman’s writing begins, to secure my undivided attention, and long was it sustained. I wish I had more substantive content to add to this review, but as my numerous pages of notes don’t belong here, I reckon it’s time to embrace speechless awe!

[Shep · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the one hand, these sermons are extraordinarily eloquent, fairly easy to understand, and full of pastoral warmth. On the other, they are, much like Newman's theology, a mixed bag - the result of Protestant and Roman Catholic influences battling it out in tug-of-war in Newman's thought. Recommended for the student studying Newman. Everyone else can skip it.