J.H. Newmana koncepcja religii

Abstract

J.H. Newman is one of the most outstanding theologians of the XIX century. He was born in the bosom of the Church of England but he converted to Catholicism as a result of a deep intellectual search. His theological reflection is strictly connected with life. The subject of the article is an attempt at the synthetic way of expressing Newman’s teaching on religion. On the basis of analyses which have been carried out we become convinced that for Newman: religion is the form of a dialogue between a man and God. On the one hand, the dialogue consists in a special ability to find God in human existence, on the other hand – in the faithful fulfilment of any duties towards Him. The crucial components of religion which complement one another and allow to evaluate it properly are: faith, mind and conscience. Newman underlines the essential difference between natural religion and religion of revelation. The first one is the fundamental and preliminary “step” at the way towards God. Mind and conscience play the particular role here. The second one: religion of revelation is the religion of faith and obedience to the truths revealed by God – the ones which have been interpreted in the light of the Scriptures and which have been announced by the Church as the truths we should believe in. Besides, Newman points out the special connection between religion and theology. Religion without theology becomes fanaticism and bigotry – whereas theology stops being believable when it is studied or practised as it were “next to” religion. For that reason, religion and theology have to complement one another. Moreover, he also pays attention to the necessity of the steady development of religious ideas: it is undoubtedly to support the fact that Christianity is the common religion that corresponds with all periods and places. To sum up, we can state that J.H. Newman belongs certainly to those theology experts whose works become a great source of inspiration for the development of modern theology.