John Henry Newmam and the Idea of the University

摘要

JOHN Henry Newman was one of the most eminent of all VictorianEnglishmen—subtle, witty, profound, but also hypersensitive,insecure and resentful of criticism. He was the product oftwo extraordinarily rich cultures—that of Oxford, which was his byinheritance and that of the Roman Catholic Church, which was his byadoption, Oxford, which did so much to discipline and sharpen his mind,was in his day a place of great beauty before the advent of the railwayand motor car. The antiquity of the place, an oasis of civilized security,nourished his critical faculties but could not give him the serenity whichhe craved. This he sought in an institution of even greater antiquity,the Roman Catholic Church, which answered his religious needs butin whose bosom he was always liable to suspicion as the brilliant convertwho might in the final analysis prove unorthodox. Both Oxfordand the Roman Catholic Church were the decisive influences in hislife and helped to shape his remarkable book on liberal education.