By MERIOL TREVOR
Newman on Justification by Thomas L. Sheridan Si. (Alba House 52s 6d).
ICK and fast come the academic studies of Newman's ideas, especially from the United States. This one is for the specialiet, whether in Newman studies or in the theology of Justification. It is a good solid piece of work 'tracing out in great detail the development of Newman's ideas on this complex and controversial subject during his Anglican years, from his
evangelical conversion a t fifteen, in 1816, to the final statement of his views in the "Lectures on Justification" published in 1838 at the height of the Oxford Movement's success.
In these Lectures Newman had what we would now call an ecumenical intention. Catholic and Protestant theologians confronted each other with what appeared to be completely irreconcilable views. Pursuing his Anglo-Catholic via media Newman looked for a way "to fill up a ditch, the work of men," as he put it. His solution turned on the doctrine of the divine indwelling in the soul, which had been all but forgotten in the quarrelling about grace, its presence and effects.
Newman showed t h e originality of his genius by indicating That the way to reconcile the opposing theologies was to rise above, or to dig below, the differences to
discover the unity of God himself, Father, Son and Spirit at work within.