NEW YORK (NY)
First Things
October 2, 2019
By Thomas G. Guarino
As we approach John Henry Newman’s canonization as a saint of the Catholic Church, it is a good time to invoke his considerable theological wisdom.
In his preface to the third edition of The Via Media of the Anglican Church (1877), Newman stated, “Theology is the fundamental and regulating principle of the whole Church system. It is commensurate with Revelation, and Revelation is the initial and essential idea of Christianity.” Theology “has in a certain sense a power of jurisdiction” even over popes and bishops (who exercise what Newman calls the regal or governing office in the Church). Such supervisory power is essential, since there exist elements in the Church that “are far more liable [than theology] to excess and corruption, and are ever struggling to liberate themselves from those restraints which are in truth necessary for their well-being.” Newman then lists several popes who “under secular inducements of the moment” have been tempted, though unsuccessfully, “to venture beyond the lines of theology.”
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