St. John Henry Newman—The Idea of a University | Bearing of Other Branches of Knowledge on Theology

By James T. Majewski ( bio - articles - email ) | Nov 01, 2022 | In Catholic Culture Audiobooks (Podcast)

Listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS Feed | YouTube Channel

This is a listener-supported podcast! Thanks for your help!

“If you drop any science out of the circle of knowledge, you cannot keep its place vacant for it; that science is forgotten; the other sciences close up, or, in other words, they exceed their proper bounds, and intrude where they have no right... no science whatever, however comprehensive it may be, but will fall largely into error, if it be constituted the sole exponent of all things in heaven and earth, and that, for the simple reason that it is encroaching on territory not its own, and undertaking problems which it has no instruments to solve.

In 1854, Newman was invited to Dublin by the Catholic Bishops of Ireland to serve as rector for the newly established Catholic University of Ireland, now University College, Dublin. Though he retired after only four years, during this time he composed and delivered the lectures that would become The Idea of a University.

In this fourth discourse, Newman examines the unavoidable consequence that Theology, if abandoned, will soon have its place usurped by one or more of the other sciences, with dire consequences both to Theology and the other sciences themselves.

Part 1 of this work, “University Teaching”, will be released in episodic format over the coming weeks. Be sure to subscribe so as not to miss an installment!

Links

The Newman Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture reading project on The Idea of a University: https://www.newmansthoughts.com/

Cluny Media edition: https://clunymedia.com/collections/john-henry-newman/products/the-idea-of-a-university

The Idea of a University full text: https://www.newmanreader.org/works/idea/

Donate at: http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

James T. Majewski is Director of Customer Relations for CatholicCulture.org, the “voice” of Catholic Culture Audiobooks, and co-host of Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast. Based in New York City, he holds both a BA in Philosophy and an MFA in Acting. See full bio.

Sound Off! CatholicCulture.org supporters weigh in.

All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a current donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!

There are no comments yet for this item.