Newman the Visionary

I read in Zenit a meeting under the auspices of the Pontifical Council for Culture was held on "Catholicism and Literature in the 20th Century". One of the topics was the literary vision of Cardinal Newman, one which he shared with writers of later generations including Chesterton, Tolkein and Greene.

Thinking about the vision of Newman reminded me of John Hulsman's introduction to The Rule of Our Warfare where he writes, "Newman's thought was remarkably all of a piece, despite a conversion, decades of controversy, and long development through a varied course of writing. He had the most comprehensive and unified view of life - what he called the Providential system of the world - of any of the Victorian writers ... Threaded throughout his Anglican and Catholic writings composed over many decades - his sermons, treatises, lectures, autobiography, devotions, and letters - is a profound attempt to relate learning and inquiry, even into the great mysteries of Redemption, to the most humble duties of daily Christian life ... bringing the great catholic doctrines to bear on the ordinary problems of Christians in the world ... [presenting] the great complexity of life and the paradoxes of Christian warfare in the world while keeping us ever aware of the one Truth behind it all."