Carta a Pusey: La devoción a la Virgen María en la tradición de la Iglesia (100xUNO nº 106)

by John Henry Newman

John Henry Newman escribe este apasionado tratado breve a modo de respuesta a Eirenicon, un largo volumen escrito por su amigo Edward Pusey. Aquí el santo insiste en la legitimidad del puesto de María en la teología católica recurriendo a la fuente que sabía que su amigo no podría sino la Patrística.
«Cuando Mary, su hermana menor, le preguntó por qué le parecían tan importantes los Padres de la Iglesia, Newman respondió que porque poseían y expresaban un conocimiento de primera mano de los objetos de la Palabra de Dios. Y por eso, para él como para los Padres, la teología y la espiritualidad no son cosas diferentes que transcurren por caminos o vías diversas, sino que son dos caras distintas pero complementarias de una misma realidad. Y ambos aspectos, su conocimiento de los Padres y su espiritualidad, quedan de manifiesto en la Carta a Pusey y se orientan a demostrar la legitimidad del culto a la Virgen María y su devoción por parte de los católicos» (de la Introducción de Rubén Peretó).

191 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2022

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

[NuevoBereano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sin oscurecer los méritos propios de la obra en sí (este tipo de polémica de carácter apologético vive una época dorada en plataformas digitales en la actualidad), destaca especialmente (al menos para mí) en una faceta accidental: la necesidad del converso de explicarse constantemente a sí mismo, y más aún cuando se trata de una figura pública, obligada a ser ejemplar en todo lo que hace. No en vano, su autobiografía recibirá el título "apologia pro vita sua".

Por lo demás, un buen ejemplo del paradigma de la evolución doctrinal que Newman popularizó, en este caso aplicado al papel de la Virgen María en la espiritualidad católica.

Mis felicitaciones al traductor. Traducir a Newman no tiene que ser fácil.