John Henry Newman and His Age

Many books exist devoted to the life, thought, and writings of Blessed John Henry Newman, the premier Catholic theologian in nineteenth-century England. His influence has been enormous, perhaps especially on Vatican II (1962-65). This book is a Newman primer, and not only a primer about Newman himself, but also about his time and place in church history. It attends to the papacy during his lifetime, his companions and friends, some of his peers at Oxford University, the First Vatican Council (1869-70), as well as some of his writing and theology. It should be especially helpful to an interested reader who has no particular background in nineteenth-century church history or in Newman himself.In John Henry Newman and His Age, Owen Cummings provides us with a fine and lucid account of the complex framework of nineteenth-century European social, political, and ecclesiastical changes and challenges. With this aid we are better able to understand Newman and the key figures, friends and opponents, who influence him and who he in turn influences. This helps clarify the momentous decisions he came to and the key relationships which helped forge his complex, and in Cummings' telling, attractive character. The author is generous in his citing of the full range of Newman biographers and commentators. The sheer range and depth of their comments enables Cummings to reveal just why Newman remains so fascinating to those who come after him.--David B. McLoughlin, Department of Theology, Newman UniversityThis is the ideal introduction to a great man, a deep thinker, and a saint. It not only brings the life and times of Newman alive, and communicates clearly something of his wisdom, it also makes fascinating connections with our world and the church today.--David F. Ford, Regius Professor of Divinity Emeritus, University of CambridgeThere are certain men whose life and thought reward our revisiting, but first familiarity can dull the senses. This masterful study by Owen Cummings refreshes our appreciation of Newman through commanding control of hundreds of bibliographies and historical studies. It describes the thicket in which to find the rabbit now camouflaged by hasty expectations. Cummings introduces the novice to Newman, and those already acquainted with Newman to the context of his remarkable life.--David W. Fagerberg, Professor, University of Notre DameOwen F. Cummings is Regents' Professor of Theology at Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon. He is the author of some twenty books in theology and church history, and is a deacon of the Diocese of Salt Lake City.