Conscience & Conversion in Newman. A Developmental Study of Self in John Henry Newman (review)

Abstract

Conscience & Conversion in Newman. A Developmental Study of Self in John Henry Newman. By Walter E. Conn. [Marquette Studies in Theology, No. 71.] (Milwaukee: Marquette University Press. 2010. Pp. 158. $17.00 paperback. ISBN 978-0-874-62777-0.) Walter Conn's concise, interdisciplinary case study of Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman's psychological self-development and conversions mines not only English churchman's relevant major works but also his private letters, diaries, and journals, which, to paraphrase Newman, reveal true character of a man. Conn succeeds in his hope that some readers will find it a useful review of Newman's life (p. 9), since it offers a specialized perspective, with well-chosen source references, surveying well-traveled ground. Tracking Newman's various conversions chronologically, each of four chapters opens with a discussion of events and Newman literature of period, followed by Conn's use of psychological development theories from Erickson, Piaget, Kohlberg, Fowler, and Kegan to support his analyses of Newman's various conversions, although to those unfamiliar with this literature, brevity of psychological analysis can be challenging reading at times. However, a helpful chart on final page of appendix compares stages of each developmental theorist with four stages drawn from Conn's prior research. Readers may profit by reading very helpful appendix first, which provides a succinct overview of Conn's previous research on conversion. Conn's thesis for interpreting Newman's experiences is grounded in dynamic relationship of conscience, the radical drive of personal subject for self-transcendence (p. 132), and conversion, an 'about-face' which moves one into a world (p. 22). These occur within subject's fundamental dynamism for self-transcendence. Conn identifies Newman's multiconversions as they unfolded chronologically in three stages. First was a basic Christian moral conversion with evangelical overtones at age fifteen, accompanied by important affective, cognitive, and religious dimensions (p. 8).This led to a structural cognitive conversion (p. 8) during his twenties, with changes in both what and how religious knowledge was acquired. Finally, Conn suggests a new interpretation of Newman's ecclesial conversion as a negative deconversion from Anglicanism and a positive conversion to Rome at age forty-four, best understood as a moral (religious) decision responding to a judgment of personal conscience . …