"Ex umbris et imaginibus in veritatem" -- The "Fitful Glimpses" of Arends and Newman

"Never was a mind so unceasingly in motion.  But the motion was always growth, and never revolution."

~ Owen Chadwick on John Henry Newman

I am in no sense a theological scholar.  Heck, I don't even read theological tomes unless someone is able to convince me that I'd better.  I never seek them out. 

So, it's a good thing that I read publications that publish essays and reviews by people who are theological scholars, and who write well and convincingly about theological things.  Else, I would be even more of an ignoramus than I am.  Hurrah!

Anyway, this disclaimer only goes to introduce a budding idea that came over me while I was reading Paul Dean's fascinating more-than-a-book-review/biographical essay on John Henry Newman, "Newman's Worldwide Mind," in this month's issue of The New Criterion.  I read everything they put into TNC, because I know it will be edifying -- even if rather mystifying. 

John Henry Newman, in case you do not know, as I did not before I read Mr. Dean's essay, was a 19th century British Anglican clergyman who converted to the Roman Catholic faith.  He was a famous and popular scholar and writer, publishing, among others, still-read classics (I'll take the word of the consensus on these, having read nary a one) Apologia Pro Vita Sua, A Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent, and The Idea of a University.*  He was eventually made a cardinal in the Catholic church by Pope Leo XIII; and he was beatified last year by Pope Benedict XVI.

Mr. Dean's piece is, in a large part, a biography of the method of Newman's mind; in particular, the way in which he would revisit and reassess ideas in his writing, each time clarifying and refining and polishing.  The quote above that Mr. Dean pulls out from Owen Chadwick's biography of Newman early in his article really struck me, because that is how I so often see Carolyn's writing -- whether in her songs or essays.  She revisits themes time and again -- each examination offering some new aspect or facet or thought; but, she, too, always seems to grow in her understanding, rather than turning all her previous notions upside down or discarding them.  The Carolyn Arends of Love Was Here First is the same Carolyn Arends of I Can Hear You -- just wiser, deeper, more studied, more complex.  

Be forewarned, casual listener:  Carolyn Arends may wrap her ideas in pleasant and catchy melodies and sing them with a sweet and yielding voice; but, they are powerful, potent, and challenging ideas all the same.  They will seep right through your conscious, into your subconscious, and shape your worldview almost before you know it.  But, take heart: you will grow, too; and, what is better, you will grow toward the Truth.

Newman called it "dogma."  And his use of "dogma" has little to do with the idea this modern time has falsely attributed to it, namely one of "blindly inflexible insistence."  Rather, as Mr. Dean continues, "[Newman] accepted dogma, not as a substitute for independent thought, but as the formulated expression of the mind of the church down the ages."  Under this definition, Newman saw dogma as something not only to be respected and accepted by the believer, but as something also to be thought upon and refined and contributed to by the believer in his own time. 

Now, here is where Newman's theology gets a little dicey for the Protestant believer.  Mr. Dean writes: "[F]ar from Christian doctrine being presented ready-made in the Bible, the church had the task of piecing together scriptural insights, reformulating its ideas more and more clearly as heresies demanded refutation, until, over the centuries, doctrines were agreed which were implied by scripture, and not contradictory to it, even though they might not be explicitly stated by it."  And yet, is this wholly troublesome?  I think we all have some extra-Biblical beliefs that, while they do not clash in any way with the truth revealed in the Bible, are in no way stated in our sacred texts.  It is an act of Christian discernment to prayerfully seek out the complementary things and discard the heretical ones.  And that is how you get a song from Carolyn like "According to Plan" -- a song that might upset Calvinists (aside: what a cheerless doctrine to me is pre-destination), but makes a lot of sense to non-Calvinists.  Is there anything in that song that clashes with the mind of God as revealed in the Bible?  No, but it might clash with your extra-Biblical worldview.  And, that's OK.  This is how we develop a communal Christian dogma -- listening, questioning, refining, arguing, praying, and loving Christ enough to put up with each other until all is revealed.

Mr. Dean goes on to write:  "Newman's own development was, as I suggested earlier, a miniature version of this process.  When he talked about the "idea" of something, he used the word almost in a Platonic sense, to denote not the mental conception of a thing but the thing itself in its totality, which the mind can only grasp by fitful glimpses. . . . 'The idea which represents and object or supposed object,' he wrote in the Essay on Development, 'is commensurate with the sum total of its possible aspects, however they may vary in the separate consciousness of individuals.' . . . Refining his ideas in response to attacks, objections, and genuine misunderstandings, he came to see a pattern in church history, a significance in church teaching, which had been latent all along, but which only became clear over many years.  He never supposed that he had come to the end of what was to be said about a question, since further definitions, modifications, and adjustments (but not fundamental contradictions) would be called forth by changing circumstances." [emphasis mine] 

And that is how we can get from Carolyn, years apart, songs such as "Seize the Day" and "This is the Moment," "Out of My Hands" and "Be Still," "Love is Always There" and "The Last Word."  If each truth about eternity is a diamond, then each thought is a facet.  Carolyn, as well as every other worthy Christian thinker, assiduously and tirelessly polishes -- defining, modifying, and adjusting.  Were we to ask her if she thinks she will ever come to the end of what was to be said about a question, I am sure she would answer "Not a chance."  This is the glory and grouse of a time-bound mortal grappling with eternity.  We'll never get a full handle on these mysteries until we have left time behind in the presence of our King.  But, it's our charge and life's work to try.

"Ex umbris et imaginibus in veritatem."  That was the phrase Cardinal Newman requested on his memorial tablet.  Mr. Dean kindly translated it for us:  Out of the shadows and conjectures into the Truth.  This is a deserving creed for all Christians at all times; but, one especially fitting for my favorite songwriter who has never been afraid to wrestle with angels or try to make sense of the mess and mystery of life.  And she lets us come along for the ride!

*All available in sixty seconds or less on Kindle -- to whose charms I increasingly think I might have to succumb.