A theological essay by John Henry Newman, later Cardinal, on how Christian doctrine develops over time. It asks whether later teachings can be understood as a faithful unfolding of earlier belief, rather than a departure from it. It is worth listening to for its careful argument and its lasting influence on religious thought.
For teachers and schools: paste the code into your site or blog.
Cover illustration generated by AI.
Text source: gutenberg.org · The work is in the public domain.
Opening of the book
Transcriber's Notes: Greek words that may not display correctly in all browsers are transliterated in the text like this: βιβλος. Position your mouse over the line to see the transliteration. Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been left as in the original. Words with and without accents appear as in the original. In this text, semi-colons and colons are used indiscriminately. They appear as in the original. Ellipses match the original. A few typographical errors have been corrected. A complete list follows the text. AN ESSAY ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE.
BY JOHN HENRY CARDINAL NEWMAN. SIXTH EDITION UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME PRESS NOTRE DAME, INDIANA TO THE Rev. SAMUEL WILLIAM WAYTE, B.D. PRESIDENT OF TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD. My dear President, Not from any special interest which I anticipate you will take in this Volume, or any sympathy you will feel in its argument, or intrinsic fitness of any kind in my associating you and your Fellows with it,— But, because I have nothing besides it to offer you, in token of my sense of the gracious compliment which you and they have paid me in making me once more a Member of a College dear to me from Undergraduate memories;— Also, because of the happy coincidence, that whereas its first publication was contemporaneous with my leaving Oxford, its second becomes, by virtue of your act,
Readnara
