Unlearning ourselves: the incarnational asceticism of John Henry Newman's Anglican sermons
This essay explores how John Henry Newman's preaching on asceticism can speak to the ostensible tension in contemporary Christianity between "spiritual" and "earthly" concerns. Newman contends, paradoxically, that a conscious self-denial of lawful material pleasures necessar...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
SAGE Publishing
2021
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| In: |
Anglican theological review
Year: 2021, Volume: 103, Issue: 1, Pages: 44-59 |
| Further subjects: | B
Incarnation
B Fasting B ANGLICAN sermons B Newman, John Henry, 1801-1890 B sacramental principle B Preaching B Asceticism B John Henry Newman |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This essay explores how John Henry Newman's preaching on asceticism can speak to the ostensible tension in contemporary Christianity between "spiritual" and "earthly" concerns. Newman contends, paradoxically, that a conscious self-denial of lawful material pleasures necessarily correlates to the Christian's ability to perceive the spiritual grace mediated by physical objects. The sermons of his Anglican period reflect what he would eventually articulate as the "sacramental principle," namely that the material world presents "types and the instruments of real things unseen." This principle is grounded in the doctrine of the incarnation, which he considers to be the central truth of the gospel. I argue that this anchoring in the incarnation gives his preaching on asceticism an ultimately practical or "this-worldly" character and, more precisely, offers an understanding of asceticism not as a means of mystical knowledge or escapism but as the only way to live fully in the world. |
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| ISSN: | 2163-6214 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Anglican theological review
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0003328621992586 |