Newman - Essay In The Development Of Christian Doctrine

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Newman (who)

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1801-1890

Born in England. Studied at Oxford under theologians of the Oxford and Tractarian movement.

Newman wrote in a context where England feared that Evangelicals and Catholics would rule over protestants, which defied laws that were in place to prevent such things.

1825 ordained in the Anglican priesthood.

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Newman (Tractarians)

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"The Tractarians consisted of a loose group of men each with strong commitments to keeping the church free from political and (what they called) liberal influences. Newman described liberalism as "false liberty of thought" (Apologia 218). By this he meant that those whom took it on themselves to judge doctrines which are beyond human capacity, were liberal. Liberals included Evangelicals, Methodists, Unitarians, Deists, Atheists, and others who had relatively loose ideas about authority and revelation. By 1833 Keble (one of Newman's mentors) had "formulated the principles for which" the Tractarians "stood" (Walker 642). 1. Salvation is through reception of the Eucharist. 2. Eucharist can only be received in the authentic church. 3. The true church is marked by apostolic succession. 4. The church must be purified and restored to its original state (Walker 642)."

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Newman (via media)

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Newman proposed the view that the Church of England was not Protestant or Roman, rather it consisted in a middle way striking a balance between catholic unity (Episcopal Tradition) and doctrinal comprehensiveness (Prophetical Tradition in keeping with the spirit of the Patristic Period). Therefore, Newman saw the Anglican Church as maintaining the primitive church through Apostolic Succession and a specific tradition of scriptural and doctrinal interpretation.

"The Via Media meant that the Anglican church was not really a compromise, but rather meant that the Anglican church, and it alone, had remained faithful to, and ought to continue to remain faithful to, the doctrinal heritage of the early Church, avoiding both the doctrinal heresies of Protestantism and the devotional excesses of Catholicism."

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Newman (transition to Roman Catholicism)

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In 1839 while studying the Monophysite Controversy Newman was struck by the idea that if, they were heretics then the equally schismatic Protestants and Anglicans of his day must be as well (Apologia chapter 3 esp. 97-99). Soon after, he began to wish for Anglican reunion with Rome (Apologia 102).

In 1841 Newman "discovered" that Protestants of his day were analogous to Arians of the Patristic Period, Anglicans to semi-Arians, and that "Rome was now what it had been then;" the True Church had been and still was the Roman Church (Apologia 114-115). The via media did not protect the true church; it compromised it by breaking away from Rome. The height of conflict over the status of the Anglican Church centered on the publication of Tract 90 (1841) in which Newman tried to maintain that the Thirty-nine Articles of Anglicanism where consistent with Catholicism.

In 1845 he was received into the Roman Catholic Church where he remained until his death in 1890. The Essay was published the same year.

"He was responding to what he saw as "liberal" tendencies in the church: lack of respect for the Church as enforcer of the Christian faith. Neither did Newman have much patience for Dissenters who appealed to the doctrine of personal judgment, and the Bible as sole authority. This was particularly vulgar to Newman, both because of his growing appreciation for the authoritative place of the church, as well as his understanding that "personal judgment" ultimately leads to schism which results in heresy."

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Newman (solution to doctrinal dev.)

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Having settled the issue of schism for himself Newman took up the problem of the apparent contradictions between ancient and modern doctrine. His solution (arrived at by degrees and finally set down in 1845) presents itself in his Essay on the Development of Doctrine in which he expounds the theory that Catholic doctrines have not changed in substance but rather have been ever increasing in clarity of definition. The Church received revelation at once and wholly in the life, death, and ascension of Christ, but God decreed that the full meaning and extent of this revelation should only be arrived at in the fullness of time, so that the members of the Church might be able to understand the particulars of doctrine (Essay 33-54, 99-121).

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Newman (major works)

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An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine (1845)
Essay in Aid of A Grammar of Assent (1870)--rejects faith gained by reason (ala Locke)

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Newman (purpose of Essay)

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To defend continuity of the present Roman Catholic church to the church through time, both of which are connected to God's revelation.

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Newman (thesis)

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Doctrine positively develops only as it remains organically connected to the original idea of the historic church. Roman Catholicism is the true church.

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Newman (Essay, Part 1)

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Part 1 dealing with doctrinal developments viewed in themselves, that is, according to their fundamental nature.

Chapter 1: This chapters opens with an explanation of how ideas act on the mind and are acted on in return, thus are developed.

This leads Newman to a discussion of the various kinds of development, "antecedent" argument in behalf of the existing developments in chapter 2, the historical argument in behalf of the existing developments in chapter 3, and, finally, instances in illustration in chapter 4.

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Newman (failed attempts at explaining dev.)

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1) Protestants have no claim to historic Christianity b/c they reject the authority of history for the authority of Scripture.

2) Rejects accommodation to contemporary time b/c a continually changing church cannot be connected to unchanging revelation.

3) Rejects Anglican pursuit to identify with the true church before corruption (e.g., Roman Catholicism). Who determines the criteria for identifying the true church?

4) Rejects Disciplina Arcani--principle that all present doctrine was held and taught (secretly) by the ancient church (e.g., Eucharist). Thus, there has been no change.

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Newman (development)

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Three kinds of "development:"

1) Process
2) Result of a process
3) General concept, whether true or false (aka corruption)

"All bodies of Christians develop the doctrines of Scripture. They all appeal to Scripture and argue from Scripture which is deduction which is development. Both Catholic and Protestant teach material deduced from Scripture on very limited evidence. Yet, many doctrines are not the result of direct use and immediate application of Scripture, but rather by unconscious growth of ideas suggested by the text and the habit of the mind."

Just life life, development is a process.

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Newman (idea)

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Development is unavoidable because ideas. Ideas, which are multifarious, can never by fully explicated. Initially an idea is not understood, but as one ponders it, discusses it, and expresses it in doctrinal form, the idea in its fullness begins to take shape.

As the idea is informs in the social and political life, and the other structures, the idea can be said to develop, but only unless its final form belongs truly to the original idea.

Summary: Ideas develop only if they are contextualized and they are identified with the original form. "The more an idea is "living," the more various will be its aspects. The more social and political an idea is, then the more complicated and subtle it will be, and the longer and more eventful its course will be. Also, the longer the idea lasts the more clearly it is expressed and taught."

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Newman (Scripture and development)

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Scripture with its unsystematic and various styles requires elaboration, investigation . . . development. There is no single exhaustive interpretation , which is why the fathers and medievalists allowed for multiple meanings.

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Newman (authority)

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God oversees the process of development. Legitimate results are the the developments or of Christianity. This process includes a developing authority, the Church, to ratify authentic development. "Infallibility of the Church means, simply, the power of deciding whether this or that theological or ethical statement is true."

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Newman (Essay, Part 2)

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Part 2 setting up tests to differentiate between developments and corruptions.

Chapter 5 sets up criteria by which one may distinguish doctrinal development from doctrinal corruption. Newman enumerates seven tests or "notes" of a true development in any field. The rest of the book, chapters 6 to 12, are an elaborate and detailed application to specific doctrinal developments.

There are seven notes or signs of true development.

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Newman (sign 1)

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1. Preservation of Type. This note may be related to a biological metaphor. When a thing grows it does not change type. It is altered, proportions change, but he essential type remains. This for a true doctrinal development the type must remain the same. For instance, if the doctrine relates to the function and nature of a parish priest then developments must also relate to the function and nature of a parish priest.

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Newman (sign 2)

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2. Continuity of its Principles. Ideas develop according to basic principles. The destruction or rejection of the basic principles by which an idea developed is seen as its corruption.

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Newman (sign 3)

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3. Its Power of Assimilation. A true idea has the power to expand without the threat of disarrangement or dissolution of its basic idea.

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Newman (sign 4)

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4. Its Logical Sequence. Logic is a security for the faithfulness of intellectual development. To transgress the rules of logic is to move into the area of corruption.

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Newman (sign 5)

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5. Anticipation of its Future. Since doctrines develop their perfection lies in the future. To stop short of that perfection is corruption.

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Newman (sign 6)

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6. Conservative Action upon its Past. True doctrinal development does not contradict or reverse the course of doctrine which has been developed in the past.

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Newman (sign 7)

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7. Its Chronic Vigor. The longer a doctrine lasts the more sure it is to be a true doctrinal development. This is built on the notion that corruption in itself tends toward dissolution and cannot last very long.