Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 69:276 (Oct 1912)
Article: John Henry Newman: A Study
Author: George Nye Boardman

BSac 69:276 (Oct 1912) p. 618

John Henry Newman: A Study1

George Nye Boardman

One of the most interesting characters in English history is John Henry Newman. That we may understand his ideas, his aims, and his work, it is necessary to take into view the state of England in his day —both its political and its theological condition. In the second quarter of the nineteenth century the country was in a ferment. The Reform Bill was passed by the British Parliament in 1832. The Bill was the result of an agitation that amounted to a revolution. It marks an advanced step in the recognition of popular rights, like the establishing of Magna Charta, the deposition of Charles I., the introduction of the era of toleration. Rotten boroughs were suppressed, one hundred forty-three boroughs lost their representatives, the large manufacturing towns were allowed additional representatives in Parliament, popular franchise was extended, the powers of the nobility were curtailed. The established church was severely criticized: its prerogatives seemed to be in danger. A spirit of worldliness pervaded the nation. Thrift, economy, a philosophy of utility, absorbed the attention of politicians and very much that of students and philosophers. To a timid aristocracy the foundations of civilization seemed to be shaken, and the country threatened with a barbarizing democracy. Beneficed clergymen stood aghast,

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horror-struck. The forces of evil seemed to them to be taking possession of the land. Ten bishoprics in Ireland had been suppressed, English endowments were threatened. Church rites and ordinances were profanely assailed, strict churchmen felt that the drift of sentiment was carrying the populace directly into atheism. The terms “Whig” and “Liberal” were considered infidel, if not satanic. The most alarming thing was, that some of the dignitaries of the church had come to undervalue their high calling, had forgotten the ancient, apostolic, sacred source of their ecclesiastical faith and polity.

In connection with this political and theological agitation many noted names appeared — Peel, Russell Brougham, among statesmen: Arnold, Whately, and especially Pusey, Keble, Froude Newman, among churchmen. As opposed to the tendencies of the times the most marked theological movement was known as the Oxford Movement, often popularly styled Tractarianism, also Puseyism. Newman was the person who most prominently gave character to its operations.

I. Newman’s Personality.

His intellectual superiority, his power of subtile discrimination, his capacity for leadership, his boldness in displaying his views before the world, his readiness to accept consequences, the abiding impr...