Fr. Edward, J. Tyler
Overview During the two Enlightenment centuries prior to Newman, two themes were commonly emphasized – the sovereign value of the free individual, and “Reason” as the primary means of the individual’s moral and religious flourishing. Scientific demonstration was Reason’s benchmark. These themes were present within English philosophy, which especially dealt with knowledge and certainty. It was laid down that thinking in accord with the demands of “Reason” was the source of certain knowledge for the free individual, whether “Reason” (as understood by Idealists) ranged beyond the world of experience or (as understood by Empiricists) was limited to experienced phenomena. By being free of the oppression of “non-rational”, authoritarian and traditional constraints (such as faith and dogma) and by keeping to the scientific demands of “Reason”, truth and prosperity would result. “Reasoning” meant logical and evidential argumentation free of all religious authority, and this was deemed to be the only valid thinking. This liberalism in the idea of understanding and certitude set the parameters of what could be legitimately accepted as true, including in Revealed Religion. It was this liberalism in religion against which Newman set his face, for it set aside faith in divine authority as the foundation for certain and true knowledge of the God of Revelation. For the enlightened man, if you wanted to be certain and convinced of something, you had to prove it rationally – that is, with evidence commensurate to the conclusion and satisfying the canons of rational demonstration. By this test, faith in Revealed Religion failed as certain knowledge. For Newman, Christ and his Revelation was the supreme truth and inasmuch as the key to certain knowledge of Christ was “divine faith”, Faith had the priority over “Reason”. Newman strove to establish a philosophy of faith and set himself to invalidate the secular idea of Reason, for it led to religious scepticism and atheism. Newman wishe
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