Benjamin J. King – författare

John Henry Newman (1801-1890) has always inspired devotion. Newman has made disciples as leader of the Catholic revival in the Church of England, an inspiration to fellow converts to Roman Catholicism, a nationally admired preacher and prose-writer, and an internationally recognized saint of the Catholic Church. Nevertheless, he has also provoked criticism. The church authorities, both Anglican and Catholic, were often troubled by his words and deeds, and scholars have disputed his arguments and his honesty. Written by a range of international experts, The Oxford Handbook of John Henry Newman shows how Newman remains important to the fields of education, history, literature, philosophy, and theology. Divided into four parts, part one grounds Newman's works in the places, cultures, and networks of relationships in which he lived. Part two looks at the thinkers who shaped his own thought, while the third part engages critically and appreciatively with themes in his writings. Part four examines how those themes have shaped conversations in the churches and the academy. This Handbook will serve as an important resource to critical and appreciative exploration of the person, writings, controversies, and legacy of Newman.

Seeing the Church in danger from the government in 1833, the clergyman John Henry Newman wanted to 'look to the people' for help. The people of God were vital to the Tractarian (or Oxford) Movement which Newman, John Keble, and Edward Pusey led, and which hundreds of thousands of Anglican laypeople followed during the nineteenth century. The faithful were central to the movement's theological vision. Spiritually disciplined, the faithful would ensure that the Church's work in the world was ongoing. Properly educated, in schools for the middle classes and for the poor, at home and across the British Empire, the faithful would preserve the Church's teaching.Yet to opponents in the nineteenth century, and most scholars since, the movement seemed to magnify the role of the clergy of the Church of England at the expense of the people. This is to neglect not only Tractarian theology, but also lay Tractarians themselves, whether the few who were important figures in the British nation and Empire, or the many who took part in shaping society. The Oxford Movement and the People of God covers topics which are not usually encountered in studies of the Tractarians-enslavement, Empire, and English engagement in the American Civil War-as well as showing how their theology of the laity sheds new light on old topics-the Church of England's privileged place in the State, the Ritualist movement, and opposition to democracy. In none of these topics was the movement on what is called, with hindsight, 'the right side of history'. But the theological reasons, such as they were, why Tractarians took the positions they did are explored in chapters concerning providence, ecclesiology, consensus fidelium, episcopacy, and lay spirituality.

John Henry (later Cardinal) Newman is generally known to have been devoted to reading the Church Fathers. In this volume, Benjamin King draws on archive as well as published material to explore how Newman interpreted specific Fathers at different periods of his life. King draws connections between the Alexandrian Fathers Newman was reading and the development of his thought. This analysis shows that it was events in Newman's life that changed his interpretation of the Fathers, not the interpretation of the Fathers that caused Newman to change his life. King argues that Newman tailored his reading, 'trying on' the ideas of different Fathers to fit his own needs. An innovative comparison of Newman's two translations of Athanasius of Alexandria, from 1842-44 and 1881, demonstrates that by 1881 the Cardinal was swayed by the theology favored by Pope Leo XIII. King reveals that although Newman was a controversial figure in his own day, eventually his view of the Fathers and their doctrines came to be accepted by many scholars. This new exploration of his work, however, shows that the Cardinal's interpretation of the Fathers should still be controversial today.