Le Cardinal Newman: la sainteté de l'intelligence ed. by Jean-Robert Armogathe

Abstract

Reviewed by: Le Cardinal Newman: la sainteté de l'intelligence ed. by Jean-Robert Armogathe Jérôme Grosclaude Le Cardinal Newman: la sainteté de l'intelligence EDITED BY JEAN-ROBERT ARMOGATHE Paris & Les Plans sur Bex: 'Communio' & Parole et Silence Éditions, 2019. 267 pages. €20. ISBN: 9782889590957. Jean-Robert Armogathe is a rare occurrence, even in France, since he has for many years tried to bridge the gap of suspicion that is all-too-present between French academia and Roman Catholicism. His dual status as a diocesan priest and an academic (he is an Emeritus Professor at the École pratique des hautes études) obviously gives him the legitimacy to do so. [End Page 176] The aim of his latest book as an editor, is to allow the French-speaking public to know more about Newman. To do so, he has assembled thirteen papers from a distinguished panel of eight contributors, among which Ian Ker (who penned two of the papers present in the volume: one on the significance of Newman's conversion and the other on "the Prophet of Vatican II"), Herman Geissler (on Newman's doctrine of conscience), and Bishop Olivier de Berranger (on Newman's concept of development). All of the contributions have previously been published in the international Catholic review Communio, which is also the joint publisher of this work.1 The thirty-nine-page introduction—written especially for this book—is a crash course on Newman: his life and his theology (seen through two important topics: ecclesiology and the assent of faith). The volume also includes the "Biglietto speech," annexes, (a bibliography of the books and anthologies of texts by Newman which have been translated into French), and finally a postface on the "Newmanian milieu" presenting seventeen major figures gravitating around Newman. The thirteen contributions basically fall into two categories: those dealing with biographical questions and those devoted to theological/philosophical themes. The articles dealing with the first category tackle Newman's conversion (two articles), his conception of academia (two articles), his friendship with Ambrose St. John and his poetry. In the second category we find articles dealing with Newman's theological conceptions: the assent of reason to faith, development, and the role of the laity in the definition of doctrine. Newman's definition of faith is explored in three articles, making it the most developed topic in this collection, along with his conversion, which is also investigated in the introduction. Ian Ker's already-mentioned contribution on the prophet of Vatican II belongs to this category. The present collection takes into consideration that the reader knows close to nothing about John Henry Newman, the Church of England, or Victorian Britain, so the articles and the apparatus are highly pedagogical. The authors, translators (through various footnotes), and the editor take great care to clearly explain who John Henry Newman was, what he believed in, and why this is relevant. To conclude, French speakers who do not speak English, will find this is a very useful introduction to John Henry Newman's life and thought. There is no doubt that the various perspectives offered by the contributors will make many readers want to discover and read Newman themselves. [End Page 177] Jérôme Grosclaude Clermont Auvergne University Footnotes 1. The first paper, "Actualité de Newman," by Louis Bouyer, was first published as the introduction to Bouyer's Newman's Vision of Faith in 1987 before appearing in the French edition of Communio, no. 71 (May–June 1987). Copyright © 2021 National Institute for Newman Studies