John Henry Newman: A Biography

Product delivery was fine. But this is a lengthy tome and I just couldn’t get into it.

bought for my hubby who was happy to have a used copy. He was very pleased with it. Thank you

I bought this for my Mum and she enjoyed it hence the 4 stars. Well done on your beatification for Saint, Cardinal Henry!

As described and prompt delivery. Very happy.

Bought as present and he seemed to really enjoy reading it.

Excellent biography.

A well-researched book that brings out very much the human side of Newman. Most books view Newman from some political perspective, either to show how holy he was, or to show how faithful he was to the Anglican Church or to Catholic authorities, or to show how relevant he is to our days, etc. Such intent in writing distorts Newman, and generally seeks to mould him in order to fit some kind of cast. This book thankfully avoids this attitude.Ker also made a good job by bringing out the real perspective of Newman with regard to his latter Catholic milieu. Again, today we read a lot about Newman as if his former Anglican discomfort was thoroughly substituted, in his Catholic days, with an existential and intellectual cosiness and contentment. From what Ker presents as evidence, it is clear that this was not so. Though he may have had a thorough intellectual assent to his new position within the Catholic Church, Newman was absolutely not at ease how things were run or even how he himself, and others like him, was treated, especially by a too-`Italianate' Rome.While convinced that this is a master work on Newman, it does contain a few things that left me a bit disenchanted. For instance, Ker seems to assume that Catholic readers are able to understand fully the structure, practices and idiosyncrasies of the Anglican Church, and, vice versa, that Anglican readers are able to understand fully the structure, practices and idiosyncrasies of the Catholic Church. As a Catholic myself, I found myself ill at ease with the references made to the offices, places, hierarchy, and the like, related with the Anglican Church. I do not know the Anglican Church that much to be able to understand fully the significance, and especially the nuances, of ecclesial matters pertaining to the Anglican Church. On the contrary, I could understand completely those pertaining to the Catholic Church, of course, but I also could imagine how incomprehensible some of these would be to an Anglican who is unfamiliar with Catholic realities. I think Ker should have dedicated more space to explaining these matters, and should not have assumed that Anglicans and Catholics are familiar with each other's worlds, for probably they are not.Also, though the book makes an admirable job in presenting Newman's intellectual positions, it seems to me that Ker is not sufficiently critical of Newman himself. He seems to accept everything Newman said on face value, and fails to `decompose' any of his positions. I think that the author would have done a service to Newman, especially in the part that deals with his 'Assent', if he had to submit him to some critical analysis.Further, though Ker spends much time telling us what Anglicans on the whole thought of Newman, even when they were very critical to him, he does not made an equal effort to tell us with what, on the other hand, Catholics thought of Newman. In fact, in this sense a change of tact can be noticed in the book between the former `Anglican' part and the latter `Catholic' part.On the whole, the book makes pleasant, and even exciting, reading. Personally, with the exception of Part 7, I found the parts dealing with Newman's intellectual `development' a bit too long-drawn, and perhaps even boring. A better balance of content may be warranted. However, having said this, I fully recommend this work to anyone who would like to get to know Newman as a person, and also as one who continually grappled with the vigour of his mind and the stirrings of his heart.