St. John Henry Newman—The Oxford Sermons | 5. Personal Influence, the Means of Propagating the Truth

By James T. Majewski ( bio - articles - email ) | Mar 10, 2026 | In Catholic Culture Audiobooks (Podcast)

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“... we shall find it difficult to estimate the moral power which a single individual, trained to practice what he teaches, may acquire in his own circle, in the course of years. While the Scriptures are thrown upon the world, as if the common property of any who choose to appropriate them, he is, in fact, the legitimate interpreter of them, and none other; the Inspired Word being but a dead letter (ordinarily considered), except as transmitted from one mind to another.”

St. John Henry Newman’s Oxford Sermons, delivered during his time as an Anglican preacher at the University of Oxford, were instrumental in shaping the Oxford Movement, which sought to revive High Church traditions within the Church of England and ultimately led to many conversions to Catholicism.

In addition to the profound influence these sermons had on both Anglican and Catholic theology, they also bore a personal significance for Newman’s own conversion to Catholicism years later.

These fifteen sermons, though deeply interconnected in theme and insight, are not sequential in nature; rather, each stands on its own as a distinct and self-contained reflection on faith and reason. Newman lays the groundwork for themes developed in later works, such as Grammar of Assent and Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine.

In this fifth sermon, Newman contends that Christian truth spreads and endures in the world primarily through the personal character of holy individuals, rather than through the influence of institutions or intellectual arguments alone.

Links

Personal Influence, the Means of Propagating the Truth full text: https://newmanreader.org/works/oxford/sermon5.html

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