John Henry Newman: The Challenge to Evangelical Religion

Abstract

NEWMAN STUDIES JOURNAL 77 JOHN HENRY NEWMAN: THE CHALLENGE TO EVANGELICAL RELIGION BY FRANK TURNER John Henry Newman: The Challenge to Evangelical Religion. By Frank M. Turner. New Haven and London:Yale University Press, 2002. Pages: ix + 749. Cloth, $35.00, ISBN O-300-09251-2. Professor Turner tells the reader in the introduction that “The purpose of this book . . . is to explore the Tractarians and the career of John Henry Newman of Oriel in their challenge to evangelical Protestant religion” (23). In the process of trying to achieve his purpose,Dr.Turner intends to place Newman in the various contexts and controversies of theAnglican period of his subject,e.g.,family,particularly Newman’s relationships with his brothers Francis and Charles, and Mary, the youngest of his three sisters; Oxford University in its social, political, and theological settings; and Newman’s own spiritual struggles. AlthoughTurner does not seem to refer to any particular audience,it is suggested that those readers, both friendly and hostile, who already know Newman from other sources would find this book interesting, stimulating, challenging, and infuriating.A professor of modern history at Yale University,Turner is at his best when he is not dealing with Newman’s person, for which he seems to have a less than subtle animus. Turner has a tendency when describing Newman’s actions to try to psychologize Newman’s inner mind, something that was very difficult for someone like the late Erik Erikson (in his Young Man Luther:A Study in Psychoanalysis and History) whose profession deals with the psychoanalytic, let alone a historian, who has no business engaging in such conjectural analysis.This psychologizing can be seen rather vividly,for example,whenTurner is dealing with Newman’s grief after the death of the youngest of his sisters, Mary, for whom John Henry had a very deep affection. When Newman was appointed vicar of St. Mary the Virgin, the Oxford University Church, Turner suggests that the very name of the church “may have evoked each day memories of his beloved deceased virgin sister”(126).Please notice the word “may”; it is one of Turner’s bad habits, one which a historian should avoid as much as possible. While the subject of virginity is on the table, it has to be said that Turner’s distaste for such a virtue and, even more aptly, for Newman’s decision to remain celibate all of his life,is egregious—see the book’s index for the numerous references to Newman’s celibacy and its supposed dysfunctionalism. Celibacy is frequently mentioned negatively in references to Newman’s relations with people who are married, particularly if they are combatants of one kind or another. NEWMAN STUDIES JOURNAL 78 These criticisms can be understood to be minor compared to Turner’s over all approach to Newman’s stance on the evangelicals. Returning to the introduction to the book,Turner is convinced that Newman’s assault on liberalism is really an assault on evangelicalism, an assault which Turner accuses Newman of having omitted and concealed in his Apologia pro Vita Sua (1864) but which Turner believes comes out clearly in Certain Difficulties Felt by Anglicans (1850);Turner says that Newman can be taken“at his word in 1850 rather than in 1864”(23).Considered to be acting in the role of controversialist in the Apologia but not in Certain Difficulties, according to Turner,Newman is thereby misunderstood.Newman was always a controversialist;he always needed to be prodded into writing, except according to Newman, in the case of the Grammar of Assent.Furthermore,Newman felt very deeply about matters that affected his soul, his church, his family, and the condition of society at large. Consequently, there is no doubt that Newman engaged in some serious polemics and his language could become filled with “fire and brimstone” (this reviewer’s annotation).If anyone senses that his or her life,in whatever dimension,is threatened, he or she is bound to react to defend it with whatever means are possible. Newman, like any other human being including one who is a genius,is not beyond criticism,but that criticism must be fairly stated, and with statements that are backed...