John Henry Newman: A Portrait in Letters ed. by Roderick Strange

Abstract

Reviewed by: John Henry Newman: A Portrait in Letters ed. by Roderick Strange Reed Frey CO. (bio) John Henry Newman: A Portrait in Letters. Edited by Roderick Strange. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015. Pages: 601. Hardcover, $49.50. ISBN: 978-0-19-960414-2. For those who have not taken the time to read through the thirty-two-volume collection of Newman's letters, this handsome collection from Roderick Strange and Oxford University Press offers a welcome introduction. Strange attempts a daunting, yet much-needed, task: selecting from Newman's 20,000 extant letters a manageable volume of representative correspondence. The collection is divided into twelves sections, with the first letter in 1807 and the last letter in 1890, the year of Newman's death. Each section includes a two to three-page introduction to that period of Newman's life, followed by forty to fifty pages of letters. Fr. Strange, former rector of the Pontifical Beda College and author of Newman 101: An Introduction to the Life and Work of John Cardinal Newman, is uniquely qualified to produce this volume, being the only doctoral student ever directed by Charles Stephen Dessain. Fr. Strange noted that his mentor, who oversaw the production of twenty-one of the thirty-two volumes of the Letters and Diaries before his death in 1976, would have been dubious about any editorial selection of Newman's letters. Fr. Strange's volume reflects both the promise and the challenge of such a venture. While commending Strange's attempt to select a representative sample of Newman's letters, he was bound to leave the interested reader of Newman in some sense disappointed. In Newman's 1863 letter to his sister Jemima, Newman wrote that "a man's life lies in his letters." Yet a selection of letters inevitably raises as many questions about the priorities of the editor as the author of the letters. Strange's editorial selection seems aimed at showing a humanized Newman—a sensitive, and sometimes hypersensitive, man who cherished close friendships and experienced anguish and disappointment when those friendships faltered. Newman was a tender and loving man, and his affection for his correspondents often shines through in his letters. Through Strange's selection, we come to see Newman as a deeply integrated person: theological controversies were personal, and personal struggles were viewed through the lens of faith and theology. Strange's portrait of Newman, through his careful editorial selection, also presents a literary master. Every letter, ranging in gravity from an 1867 letter asking Henry Wilberforce to send a small cask of cider to Newman's [End Page 89] responses to Kingsley's accusations, is crafted beautifully, and the letters have an ability to hold one's interest, even if the subject matter seems mundane. In Strange's volume, we see the whole gamut of human emotion. Newman wrote amusing and serious letters, bitter and tender letters, controversial and benign letters. Newman's humanity always shines through, even as his faith shapes his response to life circumstances. This reviewer repeatedly returned to the question: Who is the audience for this book? A neophyte to Newman studies is unlikely to begin his or her study with a 600-page collection of letters, and the brief introductions at the beginning of each chapter do not offer enough context for the new reader to feel comfortable with any phase of Newman's life. On the other hand, the introductions and commentary offer little by way of fresh insight that will satisfy a more experienced Newman scholar. If his intent was to serve the uninitiated reader of Newman, Strange might have provided more context for each section of letters, and reduced the number of letters in each section. A chronology of the main events of Newman's life would have also been helpful. Alternatively, if more experienced scholars had been his target audience, he might have provided more analysis in his introductions, and given the reader more penetrating commentary. Perhaps the book will be most useful to the intelligent nonscholar who has already read the Apologia pro vita sua, or a well-regarded biography of Newman, such as Sheridan Gilley's Newman and His Age. It...