An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine

This 1845 work discusses the development of Christian teaching and serves as a defence of the fidelity of Catholicism.

John Henry Newman (Author)

9781108021463, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 4 November 2010

476 pages
21.6 x 14 x 2.7 cm, 0.6 kg

John Henry Newman (1801–1890) remains one of the best-known and influential English churchmen of the nineteenth century. Ordained as a priest in the Anglican Church in 1825, he converted to Roman Catholicism, being ordained as a priest and later appointed cardinal. His works include Grammar of Assent (1870) and Apologia Pro Vita Sua (1865–1866) as well as this Essay (1845), written in the midst of his own religious transformation. He discusses his theory of the development of Christian dogma: 'from the nature of the human mind, time is necessary for the full comprehension and perfection of great ideas … the longer time and deeper thought for their full elucidation'. By showing how fidelity to timeless truths coexisted in Christianity together with deeper and more developed understanding over time, Newman provides a helpful personal and theological apology for the teaching and practice of Catholicism against its detractors.

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Introduction
1. On the development of ideas
2. On the development of Christian ideas, antecedently considered
3. On the nature of the argument in behalf of the existing developments of Christianity
4. Illustrations of the argument in behalf of the existing developments of Christianity
5. Illustrations continued
6. Illustrations continued
7. Illustrations continued
8. Illustrations concluded.

Subject Areas: Theology [HRLB]