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Hermeneutical Aspects of John Henry Newman's Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2014

Drew Phillip Morgan*
Affiliation:
Duquesne University

Abstract

Recent interest in the study of hermeneutics has called for a reexamination of many Christian classics. This has initiated a retrieval of many valuable insights found in the classics that are extremely important for contemporary theology. Newman's Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine is such a classic. From the time of its publication in 1845, the Essay has been an important and influential work in the life of Catholic thought. By reexamining Newman's work, we are assisted along the unfolding hermeneutical path known as Catholic theology. This article examines Newman's theory of development, three major objections to that theory, and a review of the relevance of Newman's theory for contemporary hermeneutics.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The College Theology Society 1989

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References

1 Walgrave, J. H., Unfolding Revelation (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1972), p. 387.Google Scholar

2 Newman, J. H., An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, First Edition 1845, edited and reprinted by Cameron, J. (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1964).Google Scholar Hereafter cited as Essay. All citations will be from this First Edition unless otherwise noted as Third Edition (London: Longman, Green, 1885).

3 Rahner, Karl, “Development of Dogma,” Theological Investigations 1 (New York: Seabury, 1974), p. 39.Google Scholar See also, Walgrave, , Unfolding Revelation, p. 347.Google Scholar

4 Lash, Nicholas, Newman on Development (Shepherdstown, WV: Patmos, 1975), p. 147.Google Scholar

5 Walgrave, , Unfolding Revelation, p. 297.Google Scholar

6 Lash, , Newman on Development, pp. 1217.Google Scholar

7 Ibid., p. 9.

8 Newman, , Essay, p. 21.Google Scholar

9 Ibid., p. 57.

10 Ibid.

11 Ibid.

12 Ibid., p. 72.

13 Ibid., p. 74.

14 Ibid., p. 75.

15 Ibid., p. 88.

16 Ibid.

17 Ibid.

18 Ibid., p. 89.

19 Ibid., p. 94. Tenacity with which an idea is held is necessary but not sufficient for true development. Corruption and error can also be stubbornly held. Newman adds other criteria in order to protect his theory of development from becoming merely a theory of preservation.

20 Ibid., p. 95.

21 Ibid., p. 96.

22 Ibid. (Third Edition, 1878), p. 54. Pages 41-54 is Newman's exposition of the “kinds of development in ideas.” The kinds of development listed by Newman include mathematical, physical, material, political, logical, historical, ethical and metaphysical.

23 Ibid. (Third Edition, 1878), pp. 35-36.

24 Ibid., p. 98.

25 Ibid.

26 Ibid. A question remains concerning whether or not Newman would permit “multiple developments” along different lines in a single idea. Is Christianity destined to develop according to the Divine Will in a type of “monorail’ course, or could there be many courses of possible development? In other words, could a single idea produce or develop more than one adequate representation of the original idea? Is Chalcedon the only way to think about Christ? Is the monarchical papacy the only way to think about the polity of the church? Newman does not address the problem of whether there could be the type of plurality that would allow for more than one valid and adequate representation of the developed idea.

27 Ibid., p. 99.

28 Ibid., p. 100.

29 Ibid., p. 116.

30 Ibid., p. 148.

31 Ibid., pp. 149-64.

32 Ibid., p. 154.

33 Ibid., p. 164.

34 Ibid., p. 166.

35 Ibid., p. 167.

36 Ibid.

37 Ibid., p. 168.

38 Ibid., p. 175.

39 Ibid.

40 Ibid.

41 Ibid., p. 176.

42 Ibid., p. 177.

43 Ibid.

44 Ibid., p. 183.

45 Ibid., p. 184.

46 Ibid., p. 185.

47 Ibid.

48 Chadwick, Owen, From Bossuet to Newman (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1957), p. 236.Google Scholar

49 Ibid., p. 113. Giovanni Perrone, S.J., was the leading theologian of the Collegio Romano and was given the duty of reviewing the Essay for the Roman authorities.

50 Ibid., pp. 149-60.

51 Ibid., p. 159.

52 Misner, Paul, “Newman's Concept of Revelation and the Development of Doctrine,” Heythrop Journal 11 (1970), 35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

53 Chadwick, pp. 159-60.

54 Misner, , “Newman's Concept,” pp. 3541.Google Scholar

55 Ibid., p. 40.

56 Ibid., p. 41.

57 Ibid., p. 42.

58 Ibid., p. 46.

59 Ibid., p. 47.

60 Ibid., pp. 36-39.

61 Stephenson, Anthony, “Cardinal Newman's Theory of Doctrinal Development: Reply,” Journal of Ecumenical Studies 5 (1968), 370–71.Google Scholar

62 Newman, , Essay, p. 174.Google Scholar

63 Misner, Paul, Papacy and Development (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1976), p. 74.Google Scholar

64 Newman, , Essay, p. 174.Google Scholar

65 Ibid., p. 173.

66 Ibid.

67 Newman, J. H., “A Letter to the Duke of Norfolk,” Certain Difficulties Felt by Anglicans, Vol. 2 (London: Longmans, Green, 1876), pp. 255 and 261.Google Scholar

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69 Newman, , Essay, p. 175.Google Scholar

70 Ibid., pp. 319-20.

71 Stephenson, p. 393.

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73 Lash, p. 196.

74 Dogmatic Constitution on the Church,” Vatican Council II, ed. Flannery, Austin (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1984), p. 367.Google Scholar

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76 Newman, , Essay, p. 171.Google Scholar

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78 Walgrave, , Newman the Theologian (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1960), p. 260.Google Scholar Walgrave lists J. B. Mosley, V. F. Storr, and Père Gardeil as theologians who have misunderstood Newman in this area of the biological analogy.

79 Ibid.

80 Ibid., p. 261.

81 Ibid.

82 Ibid., p. 262.

83 Newman, , Essay, p. 63.Google Scholar

84 Walgrave, , Newman, p. 262.Google Scholar

85 Lash, p. 70.

86 Ibid.

87 Ibid., p. 140.

88 Ibid.

89 The fact that the biological analogy is so often used by theologians in discussing the development of Christian thought should encourage us to consider its validity. Why is it so commonly used? Is there something actually to it? It does seem to be a universal, observable, and intelligible symbol of order in the nature of reality. The biological analogy sets limits that enable the human imagination to decipher its experience of this reality. Is this not what Newman was doing insofar as the analogy is applied to the life of the Christian idea?

90 For Newman, conscience was a foundational principle in the life of the idea of Christianity. His later writings reflect a profound development in his understanding of the function of conscience in the many levels of Christian experience. Conscience was at the foundation of Newman's epistemology. In A Grammar of Assent, Newman saw conscience as a means to demonstrate the existence of God. In his later ecclesiology, conscience was again the formative principle in the tripartite conversation between the magisterium, the faithful and the schools of theology. This “new” ecclesiastical model is perhaps Newman's greatest retrieval from what he had held earlier as an Anglican. Baron von Hügel, among others, was greatly influenced by this understanding of church polity as it is articulated by Newman in his “Preface to the Third Edition of the Via Media.” Conscience also had a great influence in Newman's work in the area of pastoral and spiritual development. Indeed, conscience may be viewed as the major corrective in Newman's thought. It was the principle that established balance and integration in so many areas of Newman's thoughts on the idea of Christianity.

91 Walgrave, , Unfolding Revelation, p. 388.Google Scholar

92 Dragas, G. S., “John Henry Newman: Rediscovering the Catholicity of the Greek Fathers Today,” One In Christ 17 (1981), 4668.Google Scholar

93 Newman, , Essay, p. 39.Google Scholar