St. John Henry Newman—The Oxford Sermons | 7. Contest between Faith and Sight
By James T. Majewski ( bio - articles - email ) | Oct 23, 2026 | In Catholic Culture Audiobooks (Podcast)
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“The world overcomes us, not merely by appealing to our reason, or by exciting our passions, but by imposing on our imagination. So much do the systems of men swerve from the Truth as set forth in Scripture, that their very presence becomes a standing fact against Scripture... and they gradually overcome those who set out by contradicting them. In all cases, what is often and unhesitatingly asserted, at length finds credit with the mass of mankind.”
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 seventh sermon, Newman examines the temptation to quietly acquiesce to a worldly status quo, and considers how such acquiescence becomes a trial “not merely of our obedience, but even of our faith.”
Links
Contest between Faith and Sight full text: https://newmanreader.org/works/oxford/sermon7.html
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 Vice President of Trinity Communications, 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.
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