Newman and the Alexandrian Fathers: Shaping Doctrine in Nineteenth-Century England

Front Cover
OUP Oxford, May 7, 2009 - Religion - 320 pages
John Henry (later Cardinal) Newman is generally known to have been devoted to reading the Church Fathers. In this volume, Benjamin King draws on archive as well as published material to explore how Newman interpreted specific Fathers at different periods of his life. King draws connections between the Alexandrian Fathers Newman was reading and the development of his thought. This analysis shows that it was events in Newman's life that changed his interpretation of the Fathers, not the interpretation of the Fathers that caused Newman to change his life. King argues that Newman tailored his reading, 'trying on' the ideas of different Fathers to fit his own needs. An innovative comparison of Newman's two translations of Athanasius of Alexandria, from 1842-44 and 1881, demonstrates that by 1881 the Cardinal was swayed by the theology favored by Pope Leo XIII. King reveals that although Newman was a controversial figure in his own day, eventually his view of the Fathers and their doctrines came to be accepted by many scholars. This new exploration of his work, however, shows that the Cardinal's interpretation of the Fathers should still be controversial today.
 

Contents

Introduction
1
Three Phases of Newmans Life
24
2 The Sources of The Arians of the Fourth Century 18313
70
3 Preaching and Researching an Alexandrian Christology 183440
127
4 Newman on the Trinity before and after Nicaea 184058
181
5 The Athanasius With Whom I End 186481
218
6 Conclusion
248
Bibliography
265
Glossary
275
Index
281
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