John Henry Newman's writings in theology, apologetics, history, poetry, and educational theory, among other fields, made him one of the most controversial as well as influential modern Christian thinkers. Central to his religious vision was his innovative and complex "mental philosophy," first sketched out at Oxford during his Anglican years and developed in its most detailed form in his celebrated Grammar of Assent. In The Mental Philosophy of John Henry Newman, Jay Newman (no relation) presents a careful scrutiny of John Henry Newman's phenomenology of belief and epistemology in the context of the nineteenth-century cleric's major work. He departs from traditional historical and technological approaches to Newman's work on belief and critically examines Newman's contribution in this area from the standpoint of contemporary analytical philosophy. The study examines the sources, aims, and implications of Newman's philosophical project. While it draws attention to the positive value of Newman's original approach, it also explores the weaknesses and dangers of Newman's main phenomenological and epistemological theories. Jay Newman not only makes a significant original contribution to the field of Newman studies but also provides us with a guide to some of the problems and confusions of the Grammar of Assent.

As one of the most outstanding Christian thinkers in history, John Henry Newman continues to influence theology, especially Catholic theology, long after his death in 1890. Yet, his writings on faith, particularly The Grammar of Assent, are difficult to read without guidance and direction.

Catholic thinkers contributed extensively to philosophy during the Nineteenth Century. Besides pioneering the revivals of Augustinianism and Thomism, they also helped to initiate such philosophical movements as Romanticism, Traditionalism, Semi-Rationalism, Spiritualism, Ontologism, and Integralism. Unfortunately the exceptional diversity and profoundness of this epoch in Catholic thought has all too often been underappreciated. This book consequently traces the work of sixteen leading Catholic philosophers of the Nineteenth-Century so as to make evident their seminal offerings to philosophy, namely: Bautain, Blondel, Bonald, Brownson, Chateaubriand, Gratry, Gunther, Hermes, Kleutgen, Lequier, Mercier, Newman, Olle-Laprune, Schlegel, Ravaisson-Mollien, and Rosmini-Serbati.

Liberal education has long been a fascination for scholars in a variety of disciplines and is closely associated with the idea of the educated person. Seen at one time as a matter for colleges and universities, over the years it has become central to the debate surrounding general education in high school and even the earlier grades. Yet so many and varied are the uses of the term 'liberal education' that the question arises of whether and how the idea is any longer a useful or helpful construct. In what way might it speak helpfully to educational challenges we face today? In what ways does it still speak helpfully to educational challenges we face today? In what ways might it be a guide as we search for a better way forward? These are the central questions that are addressed in this book. In doing so, the positions of three theorists--John Henry Newman, Mortimer J. Adler, and Jane Roland Martin--who have written about liberal education in a compelling way and from different perspectives are selected for close analysis. The analysis is built upon to fashion a new ideal of the educated person and a new theory of liberal education.