Newman Studies Journal

A reading of Newman’s life and writings in a liturgical perspective is an innovative and pertinent task. This article analyses six of Newman’s sermons, preached between 1829 and 1831, in their liturgical context. It offers us, in germ, an outline of his liturgical theology. Newman persistently subordinated sermons to public prayer. Every church activity, primarily preaching, is directed toward liturgical worship. He defines liturgy etymologically as “public service.” “Public” refers to the ecclesial nature of liturgy, within its two dimensions: corporate and pneumatic. “Service” refers to two aspects, which are always intertwined: it denotes the sacrificial and thanksgiving character of liturgy. Liturgy is our self-sacrifice and our praise to God. In Newman's view, liturgy is the primary repository of apostolic teaching and Church tradition. Consequently, it is the best teacher of faith formation. Thus, in Newman, there is constant interaction between liturgy and life of faith.

This paper explores Louis Bouyer’s indebtedness to Cardinal Newman in developing a sacramental cosmology in his monograph Cosmos. It connects Bouyer to Newman on the level of shared theological themes and biographical imitation. It shows some of the ways in which Bouyer’s theology of the mystery of creation is an extension and development of Newman’s thinking on the invisible world, especially as articulated in Parochial and Plain Sermons and Apologia.

John Henry Newman made use of an analogy between the Holy Spirit in the life of Christ and the Spirit in the life of the Church: as the Spirit indwelled and empowered the incarnate Christ during his earthly life, so the Spirit indwells and empowers the Church in the present age. Newman’s use of this particular analogy sheds light on his doctrine of the co-synkatabasis of the Son and Spirit in salvation history, affirms the weight he gave to the process of divinization in his soteriology, and remains indispensable for a full picture of Newman’s ecclesiology.

Several Newman commentators consider that his work has been ignored by philosophers. This essay re-examines Newman’s work in relation to the particularist approach to the “problem of the criterion” in order to see whether or not Marty Maddox’s methodist depiction of Newman’s Grammar of Assent has actually obscured Newman’s relevance to this contemporary philosophical position.

The Japanese Collection of Newman Studies was donated to the National Institute for Newman Studies in 2015. The collection is made up of books, articles, newsletters, handwritten letters, postcards and photocopies underpinning the history of the Japanese reception of the spirit and ideas of John Henry Newman. This article presents the work of the main donor of the collection, Reiko Nagakura (1935-2016), and a brief history of Newman Studies in Japan.