John Henry Newman: Selected Sermons (Classics of Western Spirituality)

English-speaking Christians owe Paulist Press an enormous debt of gratitude for their continuing efforts to help us gain a deeper appreciation of our spiritual heritage. Spiritual Life John Henry Newman: Selected Sermons edited, with an introduction by Ian Ker preface by Henry Chadwick To attempt to be guided by love alone, would be like attempting to walk in a straight line by steadily gazing at some star. It is too high-we must take nearer objects to steady our course...Love must be wrought out by fear and trembling. It is the offspring of self abasement and self discipline... John Henry Newman (1801-1890) John Henry Newman, the most seminal of modern Catholic theologians, is often called "the Father of the Second Vatican Council," the teachings of which he anticipated in so many ways, especially in his ecclesiology, with its emphasis on the role of the laity, but also in his theory of the development doctrine, his ecumenism, and his concern for the renewal of Catholicism in the modern world. Without that so-called ressourcement or return to the Scriptures and the Fathers, which has characterized so much of the most invigorating Catholic theology of the 20th century, the reforms of Vatican II would hardly have been possible. Similarly, Newman's though owes its originality paradoxically to his returning to the past to recover and revitalize those forgotten truths of Christianity, which he found preeminently in early Greek Fathers. It is this profoundly Biblical and Patristic theology that lies at the heart of Newman's spirituality, which is to be found above all in that great classic of Christian spirituality, his Parochial and Plain Sermons, preached from the pulpit of the university church of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford, and from which the most of the selections in this volume are taken. † The Scriptural Background -- The Reaction Against Evangelicalism -- The Influence Of The Greek Fathers -- Characteristics Of Newman's Spirituality -- The Immortality Of The Soul -- Knowledge Of God's Will Without Obedience -- Secret Faults -- Self-denial The Test Of Religious Earnestness -- Sins Of Ignorance And Weakness -- Promising Without Doing -- The Religion Of The Day -- Self-contemplation -- The Indwelling Spirit -- Tolerance Of Religious Error -- The Powers Of Nature -- The Danger Of Accomplishments -- Contracted Views In Religion -- Bodily Suffering -- Intercession -- The Strictness Of The Law Of Christ -- Obedience Without Love, As Instanced In The Character Of Balaam -- The State Of Grace -- The Visible Church For The Sake Of The Elect -- The Greatness And Littleness Of Human Life -- Moral Effects Of Communion With God -- Christ Hidden From The World -- Christ Manifested In Remembrance -- Faith And Love -- Watching -- Worship, A Preparation For Christ's Coming -- Righteousness Not Of Us, But In Us -- Sins Of Infirmity -- Sincerity And Hypocrisy -- The Thought Of God, The Stay Of The Soul -- Christ's Privations A Meditation For Christians -- The Lapse Of Time -- The Duty Of Self-denial -- Truth Hidden When Not Sought After -- Faith And The World -- The Apostolical Christian -- Mental Sufferings Of Our Lord In His Passion -- The Religion Of The Pharisee, The Religion Of Mankind. John Henry Newman ; Edited, With An Introduction By Ian Ker ; Preface By Henry Chadwick. All But 4 Of The 38 Sermons Selected Are From Parochial And Plain Sermons, Originally Preached In The 1830's And 40's In The Church Of St. Mary The Virgin At Oxford, First Published In Successive Volumes, Then Collected In Six Volumes, Then Definitively In Eight In 1868. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 405-407) And Indexes. I suppose there is no tolerably informed Christian but considers he has a correct notion of the difference between our religion and the paganism which it supplanted.