Christopher Dawson held that the Christian religion created a distinctive culture that not only preceded, but has continued long after, the thirteenth century. It is only by examining this cultural dynamism that one can appreciate why modern society is a mutilated, or a “secularized,” version of Christendom. Soren Kierkegaard observed that a distinguishing mark of [...]
Newman’s conversion in 1845, sixteen years after Catholic Emancipation and five years before the re-establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in England, heralded the birth of a Revival which would see the resurrection of the Faith in the English-speaking world. In September 2010, I was honoured to be invited to serve as an official commentator on [...]
Like St. John Henry Newman, of whom he was the greatest living scholar, Fr. Ian Ker possessed a wicked wit, which he was certainly not afraid to deploy in public or private. He could also be fierce in defending the honor of Newman and Christ’s Church against unfair or dishonest critics. Though the pictures accompanying [...]
Customs and outward forms signal that one’s duty is greater than one’s self, and neglect of them is an exercise in egotism. Accounts vary, and a few say that the story about our civil Founders is apocryphal, but it would seem that the story is true. As one of the more jovial national patriarchs, Gouverneur Morris, [...]
St. Benedict found the world, physical and social, in ruins, and his mission was to restore it in the way not of science, but of nature, not as if setting about to do it, not professing to do it by any set time, or by any rare specific, or by any series of strokes, but [...]
John Henry Newman owned a “long view,” especially in relation to the development of Christian doctrine over the centuries. Much lesser known, and fitting nicely with his doctrinal works, are two novels which own equal importance for Newman scholars: the semi-autobiographical "Loss and Gain," and the historical romance "Callista." Now it must be observed that [...]
As St. John Henry Newman explains in his book “The Idea of a University,” education is the process by which a mind is formed not just to learn facts and ideas but to be able to think about how they are connected. And when Newman gives an image for that process, he points toward a [...]
Apart from his literary influence, John Henry Newman’s stature as a theologian is inestimable and his contribution to the fields of philosophy and history are not inconsiderable. And, above all, he was a man whose holiness has touched millions. It is for this reason that he was canonized and it is for this reason, beyond [...]
John Henry Newman’s life illustrated a truth: It is only through quietly embracing selfless love that human suffering reaches a denouement, epitomized in the life of Christ. When gloom encircles, when hope is extinguishing, it is precisely in that moment Jesus Christ dwells, hunched over and bloodied, carrying his cross to Calvary, in a startling [...]
What John Henry Newman says about conscience shocks the modern secular sensibility, which treats it (if at all) as the “socially constructed” result of any number of cultural influences. The conscience is a messenger from God: giving saints courage to resist tyranny, even unto death. by Emmeline Deane, oil on canvas, 1889 The [...]
John Henry Newman wished people to flee from the love of money, but he didn’t wish them to stop making it. He wished them to flee similarly from love of erudition for its own sake, but he didn’t want them to stop loving the Lord with mind as well as heart, soul, and strength. He [...]
In his narrow pursuit of one ruling idea, the fanatic ignores the greater world surrounding him and blinds himself to the rest of reality… Today’s offering in our Timeless Essay series affords our readers the opportunity to join Mitchell Kalpakgian as he explores the nature of the fanatic and how fanaticism is incompatible with truth. —W. [...]
Where there are bishops of moral vigor, there will be an abundance of young men willing to take up the call of service to the Church. Where the spirit is tepid and refreshes itself on the thin broth of a domesticated and politically correct Gospel, seminaries will be vacant… To have been the proverbial fly [...]
There is a secret to the art of education, but it is an obvious secret. Despite the whirlings of the world, education is straightforward: It engages the good, the true, and the beautiful in the context of basic and natural human interactions and for the sake of human happiness. As an action exercised by one [...]