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From Shadows to Truth: The Mind and Heart of John Henry Newman


  • Leadership Hall 3814 Walnut Street Philadelphia, PA, 19104 United States (map)

This year, the Grad Fellows Colloquium will explore the thought of the recently canonized Saint John Henry Newman. An expansive thinker whose mind comprehended and advanced such disparate branches of knowledge as history, literature, education, philosophy, and theology as converging on one true center, Newman generously bequeathed to posterity the fruits of his unusually fertile mind in thirty-one volumes composed in what James Joyce considered the greatest English prose style ever written. Rather than attempting to read the entirety of Newman’s corpus, this Colloquium will expose graduate students to the breadth of his thought through representative excerpts illustrating his deeply original contributions to education, philosophy, theology, and poetry. By the end of this Colloquium, we hope students will gain a greater appreciation not only of Newman’s mind, but of his heart as well. To paraphrase the great convert and cardinal, our aim is for Newman’s heart to speak to our hearts, and allow Newman’s person to influence us, his voice to melt us, his look to subdue us, and his deeds to inflame us.

From Shadows to Truth: The Mind and Heart of John Henry Newman will take place across eight sessions over the course of the year, arranged according to the various roles Newman played throughout his life.

  • Newman the Educator (Idea of a University

  • Newman the Churchman (Letter to the Duke of Norfolk, Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine

  • Newman the Theologian (Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine

  • Newman the Artist (Loss and Gain, Callista, Dream of Gerontius, Pillar and Cloud)

  • Newman the Preacher (Parochial and Plain Sermons)

  • Newman the Historian (Historical Sketches, Volumes 2 and 3

  • Newman the Philosopher (Oxford University Sermons, Grammar of Assent

  • Newman the Man (Apologia pro Vita Sua, Meditations and Devotions)  

Location: Leadership Hall, 3814 Walnut Street

Time: 7pm-8:30pm

Dates: 9/21, 10/12, 11/16

To learn more and sign up, click below.

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