The Quotable Newman: The Definitive Guide to His Central Thoughts and Ideas

by John Henry Newman

To raise up Catholics who "know their creed so well that they can give an account of it," John Henry Newman -- the 19th century British Cardinal recently pronounced "Blessed" by Pope Benedict XVI preached thousands of sermons, wrote scores of books, and published countless articles explaining our Catholic faith, with particular attention to the relationship between faith and reason. So prodigious was Cardinal Newman's output that only a few souls have read all he wrote. Yet so keen was his intellect -- and so profound his love for our Lord -- that even those who've read just a few pages have profited greatly, growing quickly in knowledge, understanding, and renewed faith in God. Now comes Dave Armstrong, himself drawn forth from Protestantism by the power of Cardinal Newman's words. Eager to share Newman s wisdom with others, Armstrong has mined from over forty of Cardinal Newman's works to produce substantive passages on more than 100 topics ranging from Angels, Absolution, and the Bible, through Confession, the Eucharist, Infallibility, and the Inquisition, and reaching all the way to the Sacraments, the Saints, Transubstantiation, and the Trinity. Armstrong selected these particular passages for their beauty, to be sure, but even more for the clarity and persuasiveness with which they present and defend so many key theological positions of our Catholic Church. Whether you are a catechist, an apologist, a Catholic layman, or just a searcher after truth, you will find in these hundreds of passages a lucid consideration of most any Catholic teaching of serious concern to you. Indeed, this book covers so many topics that it actually constitutes a complete education in the doctrines of the Catholic Faith.

Genres: Catholic

448 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2012

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).