St. John Henry Newman - The Oxford Sermons | 4. The Usurpations of Reason

About this episode

This episode discusses St. John Henry Newman's fourth Oxford Sermon, focusing on the relationship between faith and reason.

"Human philosophy was beaten from its usurped province, but not by any counter-philosophy; and unlearned Faith, establishing itself by its own inherent strength, ruled the Reason as far as its own interests were concerned, and from that time has employed it in the Church, first as a captive, then as a servant; not as an equal, and in nowise (far from it) as a patron." St. John Henry Newman's Oxford Sermons , delivered during his time as an Anglican preacher at the University of Oxford, were instrumental in shaping the Oxford Movement, which sought to revive High Church traditions within the Church of England and ultimately led to many conversions to Catholicism. In addition to the profound influence these sermons had on both Anglican and Catholic theology, they also bore a personal significance for Newman’s own conversion to Catholicism years later. These fifteen sermons, though deeply interconnected in theme and insight, are not sequential in nature; rather, each stands on its own as a distinct and self-contained reflection on faith and reason. Newman lays the groundwork for themes developed in later works, such as Grammar of Assent and Essay on the Development of Christian…

Topics covered

• faith and reason
• Oxford Movement
• High Church traditions
• religious truth
• conversion to Catholicism
• theology

Keywords

• St. John Henry Newman
• Oxford Sermons
• faith
• reason
• theology
• Anglican
• Catholicism
• Oxford Movement

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Church of England, Catholicism

Books & works: The Oxford Sermons, Grammar of Assent, Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine

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