Newman: living and written words

Friday, August 11, 2017
    Feast of Clare of Assisi, Founder of the Order of Minoresses (Poor Clares), 1253
    Commemoration of John Henry Newman, Priest, Teacher, Tractarian, 1890
Meditation:
    When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
    —Acts 4:13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    In the first ages, [catechizing] was a work of long time; months, sometimes years, were devoted to the arduous task of disabusing the mind of the incipient Christian of its pagan errors, and of moulding it upon the Christian faith. The Scriptures indeed were at hand for the study of those who could avail themselves of them; but St. Irenaeus does not hesitate to speak of whole races who had been converted to Christianity, without being able to read them. To be unable to read or write was in those times no evidence of want of learning; the hermits of the deserts were, in one sense of the word, illiterate, yet the great St. Anthony, though he knew not letters, was a match in disputation for the learned philosophers who came to try him.
    ... John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890), “What is a University?”, in The Office and Work of Universities, London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1856, p. 22-23 (see the book)
    See also Acts 4:13; Matt. 11:25; John 7:15-17; 1 Cor. 1:22-24, 27
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I never honor learning over faith. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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