Liberalism and Newman:
The Anglican Vision and Response
A Doctoral Dissertation by Father John McCloskey
Introduction
This study purports to give an overview of the vision of Liberalism as seen in the developing mind of John Henry Newman during his Anglican life from 1801 to 1845. I will examine the ideology of Liberalism as conceived by Newman although this will necessitate touching lightly on the first religious atmosphere and history of the first part of the nineteenth century, above all in England. At the same time, I will point out some of the intellectual ferment taking place in continental Europe. I also propose to show that the movement of Newman towards Catholicism that he embraced in October of 1845 can be seen as a fleeing from the destructive power of Liberalism more and more active within the bosom of his own Anglican Church, in a search for the absolute infallible authority to which he could entrust his intellect and will without fear of error. This was "a conversion," according to Disraeli, "that gave a blow to the Anglican Church from which it has still not recovered." 1
I originally planned the work as a study of the prophetical nature of Newman's statement on Liberalism, after being struck by how well he diagnosed the situation in which modern man finds himself today after nearly two centuries of the infection of liberal ideology. Finally, I concluded that the best would be to present Newman's own vision of the Liberalism of his own day, then recently born, and let the reader draw his own conclusions as to their applicability to our own days. But one cannot help but be impressed by recognizing the almost exact same religious principles being introduced under the form of Latitudinarianism in Newman's time, later appearing at the end of the nineteenth century in the Catholic Church under the name of Modernism, and persisting up to the present day although so forcefully condemned by Pope Pius X.
Naturally I hasten to point out that the Liberalism is a generic term whose meaning has varied greatly depending on time and circumstance and whose manifestations are strikingly different depending on whether the term is applied to religion, political theory, economics or law. I want to make clear that the Liberalism with which this work deals is largely of the religious type as defined by Newman, and only incidentally and occasionally will I touch upon his reaction to the rampant political Liberalism of his day, largely a product of enlightenment thinking as filtered through the French Revolution. Undoubtedly Newman saw the connection between the religious and political variety of Liberalism as reflected in the "Zeitgeist" of the early nineteenth century. Newman shared the basic Tory conservatism, typical of an Anglican clergyman and of the son of a banker of the City, and although we can trace an interesting evolution in his political thought tending towards a more liberal posture, that does not directly concern us in this work.
In my preparatory reading for this work and in the search for a proper bibliography I was surprised by the almost total absence of related work on Newman and Liberalism save a few articles. Newman has been dissected from almost every conceivable angle, from prose stylist to religious mystic, Victorian poet to philosophical Platonist, but very little on what I consider the true struggle of Newman's Anglican life. From which I have to conclude that either the topic is so obvious that it is hardly worth the bother or that the experts have missed the trees for the forest in over-concentrating on more miniscule reflections of the Newman kaleidoscope. Nevertheless they have missed this exciting war, which lasted over twenty-five years which Newman almost invariably lost the skirmishes until he ceded the ground to the enemy, realizing that he had been mistaken in his premises, i.e. that the Anglican Church was the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.
But in "dying to himself" through his conversion he won, for he was granted the grace to enter into the true Church, and thus continued the struggle from a much firmer ground and, although poorly compensated for his efforts until very late in his life, he was finally vindicated with his naming to the Cardinalate by Leo XIII in his first consistory. And even in that great event he took advantage to continue his attack on Liberalism with his "Biglietto" speech.
In spent a considerable amount of time pondering on the best method to examine Newman's views on Liberalism and have finally decided, as have many other authors in their treatment of other themes that a chronological approach was the best. Given that the main purpose of the first part is to collect and reveal the development of the mind of Newman during the first part of his long life I opted for a division of the first part in three distinct periods: 1820-1832, 1833-1839, and 1840-1845.
In the first section I will start off with an examination of the religious atmosphere of the England and Oxford during his University years and also with a look at some of the contemporary political events both in England and on the Continent. This is important in order to situate the reader in the concrete historical, religious, and philosophical circumstances in which the young Oxonian started his university career. Then, after a few references to his early life, I will move directly on to 1820 and the taking of his Oxford degree in Arts, and continue with him up to the departure for his crucial trip to the Mediterranean with the Froudes, father and son. Included in this time span are his first published articles, his election as Fellow of Oriel College, his ordination and the beginning of his pastoral work. At this point we begin to encounter the first conflicts, based on principle, with the University and State regarding the advent of Liberalism: the question of the re-election of Peel for parliament representing Oxford and his about-face on the Reform Bill and the Irish question, the tutorial controversy, the conclusion of his First book, The Arians of the Fourth Century, and finally, the election of Dr. Hampden for Regius Professor of Theology.
The second period of 1833-1839 covers Newman in the vigorous maturity of his Anglican life when he inevitable commits himself to all-out war on the Liberals. Concretely it includes the beginning of the Oxford Movement consequent on his return from the Mediterranean voyage, the editorship of Tracts for the Times, 1833 , the editorship of the British Critic, 1836 , and the onset of his first doubts regarding the validity of the claims for the Anglican Church.
The third period encounters Newman on his death bed as regards his membership in the English Church after the censure of Tract 90 by the English bishops. Although he continues his parish duties until 1843 he soon retires to Littlemore where he resides until after his conversion. However, the most important event of this period both for Newman and for Catholic theology is his writing of his "magnum opus" The Development of Christian Doctrine that was completed a few days before his conversion.
A proper understanding and knowledge of the basic facts of his life is a prerequisite for a conception of his Anglican development. Hence I have included in the Appendix of this work a chronological overview of his life with a more detailed examination of his early Anglican years as revealed in the five published volumes of his Letters and Diaries.
It should be strongly emphasized here that in the first part I essay only to collect and organize Newman's thought on Liberalism. In the second part of the thesis, I will attempt a review of his response to the events of his day as shown in his writings and action.
