Lectures on Justification

by John Henry Newman

Publisher:

J. G. & F. Rivington

, 1838

Overview

John Henry Newman delivered these lectures in the early 1830's during his career as a professor of Anglican theology. Lectures on Justification uncovers the scriptural and historical understanding of justification within a sacramental tradition. Throughout these lectures, Newman defends justification as a free gift of God received through the sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice. The lecture series closes with special attention given to the role of the sacramental rites in the faith of the believer, and the importance of preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ as presented in scripture.

Key Features

• Extensive studies on Church history from an author burdened for the Church of Jesus Christ
• Logos edition provides integrated access to Scripture references, instantly linking to English and original text versions of the Bible

Contents

Top Highlights

“Justification comes through the Sacraments; is received by faith; consists in God’s inward presence and lives in obedience.” (Page 318)

“‘unica formalis causa,’ the one and only true description of justification” (Page 33)

“But if it be, neither Protestant nor Romanist ought to refuse to admit, and while admitting to agree with the other, that the presence of the Holy Ghost shed abroad in our hearts, the Author both of faith and of renewal, this is really that which makes us righteous, and that our righteousness is the possession of that presence.” (Page 151)

“Baptism may be considered the instrument on God’s part, Faith on ours; Faith may receive what Baptism conveys” (Page 4)

“Faith, an act or motion of the mind produced indeed by Divine Grace, but valueless in itself, applies to the soul the merits of Him on whom it looks, gaining at the same time His sanctifying aid, and developing itself in good works; which works are the only evidence we can have of its being true or not. It justifies then, not as being lively or fruitful, though this is an inseparable property of it, but as apprehending Christ, which is its essence¹.” (Pages 16–17)

Praise for the Print Edition

The quality of his literary style is so successful that it succeeds in escaping definition. The quality of his logic is that of a long but passionate patience, which waits until he has fixed all corners of an iron trap. But the quality of his moral comment on the age remains what I have said: a protest of the rationality of religion as against the increasing irrationality of mere Victorian comfort and compromise.

—G. K. Chesterton

The philosophical and theological thought and the spirituality of Cardinal Newman, so deeply rooted in and enriched by Sacred Scripture and the teachings of the Fathers, still retain their particular originality and value.

—Pope John Paul II

Newman placed the key in our hand to build historical thought into theology, or much more, he taught us to think historically in theology and so to recognize the identity of faith in all developments.

—Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI)

Product Details

• Title: Lectures on Justification
• Author: John Henry Newman
• Publisher: J. G. and F. Rivington
• Publication Date: 1838
• Pages: 443

About John Henry Newman

John Henry Newman (February 21, 1801–August 11, 1890), also referred to as Cardinal Newman and Blessed John Henry Newman, was an important figure in the religious history of England in the nineteenth century. He was known nationally by the mid-1830s. Originally an evangelical Oxford academic and priest in the Church of England, Newman was a leader in the Oxford Movement. This influential grouping of Anglicans wished to return the Church of England to many Catholic beliefs and forms of worship traditional in the medieval times to restore ritual expression. In 1845 Newman left the Church of England and was received into the Roman Catholic Church where he was eventually granted the rank of cardinal by Pope Leo XIII. He was instrumental in the founding of the Catholic University of Ireland, which evolved into University College, Dublin, today, the largest university in Ireland. Newman’s beatification was officially proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI on September 19, 2010 during his visit to the United Kingdom. His canonisation is dependent on the documentation of additional miracles. Newman was also a literary figure of note: his major writings including his autobiography Apologia Pro Vita Sua (1865–1866), the Grammar of Assent (1870), and the poem The Dream of Gerontius (1865), which was set to music in 1900 by Edward Elgar as an oratorio. He wrote the popular hymns “Lead, Kindly Light” and “Praise to the Holiest in the Height” (taken from Gerontius).