‘Steadily Contemplating the Object of Faith’: Newman, The Apologia, and Romantic Aesthetics

Abstract

Explains how Newman’s early exposure to Romantic theories of art and experience shaped his thinking throughout his life, even after he converted to Roman Catholicism. Cites examples from his prose style, from his concern with the subject as well as the object of experience, from his ideas about the nature and function of poetry, and his belief in the poet as sage. Points out his frequent praise for Romantic writers. Though he did not accept fully the Romantic epistemology, he remained a devotee of the Romantic aesthetic all his life.