John Henry Newman: A Life Sacrificed, Ida Friederike Görres. Ignatius Press (ISBN: 9781621646983) 2024.
Summary: A study of Newman focused on the cost of his conversion to Catholicism and how it formed his character.
John Henry Newman is one of those figures of interest to many of us who have worked in college ministry. Newman Centers often served as the base for Catholic ministry on campus. For those of us who tried to think Christianly about what universities are for, Newman’s The Idea of a University was required reading.
Newman’s story is an interesting one. He came to a vibrant evangelical faith as a teenager. As a young man, he became part of a movement to reform and revitalize Anglicanism through turning toward its Catholic roots, promoting a kind of Anglo-Catholicism. But he discovered he could not go half way, and after an agonizing process, converted to Catholic belief. While this brought spiritual relief, it both cost him friends and engendered suspicion among his fellow Catholics in England. He was relegated to a parish in Birmingham, where he faced (and lost) a libel trial. Later, he had a chance to pursue his vision of a university in Ireland, but never enjoyed the support of his fellow Catholics. Only late in life did he rise to the office of Cardinal.
This work is less a biography than a study of how Newman was formed through the challenges and setbacks he faced in his life. The theme of this book is that Newman sacrificed his life in the pursuit of spiritual truth. Whether this was in the advocacy of his Tracts for the Times during his Oxford Movement period or his wrestlings at Littlemore, he sought truth. Later on, his works on The Grammar of Assent and on the development of doctrine centered on the pursuit of truth. A long chapter toward the conclusion of the work unpacks Newman’s ideas on conscience
Görres traces how adversity brought him low. She also shows how it formed a godly humility and deep personal devotion. Newman always adhered to the code of the gentleman. He even addresses himself to the formation of gentlemen in Idea. To gentlemanliness, Newman’s trials added Christlike gentleness.
But this work is not just about Newman, but about Ida Friederike Görres. Görres was a German Catholic scholar, profoundly influenced by Newman, who wrote on the lives of saints. In an introduction, Hanna-Barbara Gerl-Falkovitz, who edited this work for German publication describes the author’s difficulties in completing the work. Also, the translator, Jennifer S. Bryson, offers both commentary and a detailed index of the book. Concluding appendices offer timelines of both Newman’s and Görres life. One of the most helpful resources in the book is an extensive register of persons.
Görres doesn’t offer a biography of Newman so much as a study of his character in the context of the events of his life. We see how sacrifice produces sanctity. For biography, the reader may turn to Ian Ker’s John Henry Newman. But many biographies don’t reveal the personality of a person and how God formed them through the challenges of their lives. This is what Görres does so well in this work.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
