Conscience, Consensus, and the Development of Doctrine

Rating:
Summary: Great work; horrible edition
Review: James Gaffney, the editor of this volume of three Newman works, has got to be kidding. Just look at the back cover via the "Search Inside" feature. Portraying Newman as the champion of the use of one's conscience as the sole guide to one's moral decisions is laughable, especially considering how easily the conscience can be malformed (such as through immoral indoctrination). Even worse, Gaffney portrays Newman as promoting the idea that the Church's views on faith and morals must change with each era's "new ways of understanding." On the contray, Newman is the champion of the Catholic Church's notion of the development of doctrine which includes the belief that matters of faith and morals dogmatically defined (i.e. declared as binding on the faith of the people) are preserved from error. While the Church has developed its doctrines (such as with the Virgin Mary, indulgences, and purgatory), these doctrines are believed to be fully in-line with the original deposit of faith given to the apostles, principally Peter via "the keys," by Jesus Christ. Gaffney doesn't stop there. Even worse, he portrays Newman as promoting the idea that the laity "are the source and final seal of the church's teaching; thus the Bishops must listen to them." On the contary, Newman viewed the laity as important for the development of doctrine, especially with the Marian doctrines, but he did not view them as the ultimate ratifiers of doctrine...such would be wholly contrary to his argument in An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine. It should also be considered that Newman's views on both the laity and the papacy developed over the years. For instance, originally he opposed the First Vatican Council's plans to dogmatically define "papal infallibility" and for various reasons such as how it would be worded (see Avery Dulles' article in Theological Studies journal), but he ultimately agreed with the decision and promoted it.

I am amiss as to how Gaffney received a teaching position at Loyola University in New Orleans? He clearly has an agenda to promote, and in so doing he alters the thought of Newman. One should consult legitimate Newman scholars like Ian Ker (a Roman Catholic), Owen Chadwick (an Anglican), and Jaroslav Pelikan (an Eastern Orthodox Christian).

An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine is probably the most important work in Catholic theology since St. Thomas' Summa Theologica. But get the University of Notre Dame Press edition, also found on Amazon.com.

Sola Dei Gloria.