Syntax, word usage, and paragraph development form the substance of the analysis of the Apologia. The use of subordination, repetition, and antithesis in sentence construction; the choice of words to produce rhythm and prove mood, as well as the implied metaphor; and careful blending of these elements into an organic unity which reflect not only the personality of the man, but his very thought process; these are the common elements identified by critics of the Apologia. To what extent these elements exist in the prose of the university sermons, and what other elements of style are identifiable in these sermons are the subject of this paper.

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“O weary Champion of the Cross, lie still”: così Christina Rossetti apre un sonetto del 1890 intitolato Cardinal Newman, composto in occasione della dipartita del cardinale e dedicato alla memoria di uno dei più influenti pensatori, teologi e uomini di lettere dell’epoca. L’accorato canto di Rossetti sottolinea la potenza del pensiero newmaniano assimilando le azioni e gli scritti del cardinale all’impeto delle acque di marea, metaforizzandoli poi in un’alluvione che va a sconvolgere il tranquillo corso di un ruscelletto: “Thy tides were springtides, set against the neap/ Of calmer souls: thy flood rebuked their rill (7-8). La metafora acquatica impiegata da Rossetti sintetizza in modo efficace le qualità trasformatrici proprie della lunga parabola esistenziale di John Henry Newman (1801-1890), la quale lascia profondi solchi nel tessuto ideologico e storico di quello che gli studiosi hanno identificato come “very long nineteenth-century”. Gran parte di questi solchi sono stati tracciati da Newman percorrendo una strada faticosa e mai lineare, che lo studioso oggi può seguire attingendo al voluminoso corpus delle opere e all’altrettanto ricco apparato critico e biografico andato formandosi negli anni a commento dei suoi scritti. Assieme a John Keble e Hurrel Froude, Newman fondò le basi di quello che passa alla storia come Oxford Movement, un’esperienza intellettuale nata fra i Colleges dell’Università di Oxford che mirava a ricostruire le basi cattoliche della Chiesa Anglicana, in un contesto di generale inquietudine nei confronti dell’istituzione ecclesiastica e dei modi da questa adottati per declinare la professione di fede all’interno del tessuto sociale dell’epoca. Gli uomini del Movement concentrarono i propri sforzi teorici nella stesura e pubblicazione di numerosi Tracts for the Times, nei quali si affrontavano i temi ecclesiologici più disparati, col fine di attivare un dialogo riformatore in seno alla Chiesa d’Inghilterra. La pubblicazione dei Tracts fu di breve durata (1833-1845) ma foriera di importanti conseguenze per la società inglese e per l’esistenza di Newman, coincidendo la sua conversione al cattolicesimo con la cessazione delle pubblicazioni (1845). La conversione di Newman fece enorme impressione sull’opinione pubblica, specie per il forte sentimento antiromano che circolava nelle fila dell’establishment inglese. Il motto “No Popery” costituiva un refrain udibile in molte delle produzioni culturali dell’epoca e in special modo nei romanzi a tema religioso, fra le cui pagine il cattolico si muove come personaggio intriso di caratteristiche negative proprie del villain: “a spy, a secret agent, suave, supercilious and satanically unscrupulous, laying his cunning plots for the submission of England to ‘Jesuitocracy’”. Falsità, propensione all’inganno, sete di potere, assenza di scrupoli erano tutti connotati che l’immaginazione protestante associava alla Chiesa di Roma: la conversione procurò a Newman accuse dello stesso segno che il futuro cardinale cercò di dissipare nei suoi scritti, impegnandosi ad arrivare a una fetta di pubblico il più vasta possibile mediante due romanzi e la celebre autobiografia spirituale Apologia Pro Vita Sua (1864). Le opere letterarie di Newman conobbero un dilagante successo, intrise com’erano di istanze culturali associate alla vita religiosa e di elementi autobiografici che andavano a soddisfare la curiosità del pubblico per la vicenda personale di uno degli uomini più in vista del regno di Vittoria. La peculiare intersecazione fra la determinante storico-culturale e quella autobiografica nella testualizzazione letteraria newmaniana è l’oggetto di studio qui proposto. La ricerca prende il via da un iniziale progetto su biografia e romanzo in relazione alla cosiddetta “crisi religiosa” che caratterizza gli anni vittoriani. Nel considerare i vari aspetti della questione assieme al mio tutor Prof. Enrico Reggiani, si è constatato come non fosse opportuno inscrivere la figura di Newman in uno studio tematico e pluritestuale, metodologicamente orientato a una prospettiva storico-culturale: l’influenza del cardinale sulle lettere di derivazione anglofona appare caratterizzata da un’imponente, multilivellare pervasività che echeggia sia nelle pratiche artistiche dell’epoca, ossia nell’opera della già citata Rossetti, nell’estetica della Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, nella poesia di Gerald Manley Hopkins, che in quelle novecentesche, come il sistema testuale joyciano. Se il ruolo determinante del pensiero newmaniano è riconosciuto e analizzato dalla critica nel dettaglio dei suoi aspetti teologico-religiosi, altrettanto non può dirsi dei suoi scritti più specificamente letterari: il lavoro qui presentato sarà da intendersi pertanto come un dispositivo di avvicinamento a questi aspetti dell’opera di Newman. A tal fine si è deciso di concentrare lo studio sulla close-reading di uno dei due romanzi newmaniani, Loss and Gain (1848), la cui testualità sarà investigata mediante un selezionato apparato metodologico afferente in primis al macrotesto dell’autore e in secundis a più recenti formulazioni teoriche di taglio narratologico. / In an 1890 composition dedicated to the memory of John Henry Newman, Christina Rossetti metaphorized his legacy into “springtides, set against the neap/ Of calmer souls: thy flood rebuked their rill”. She so sought to synthesize the transformative qualities of Newman’s existence (1801-1890) in the context of the “very long nineteenth century”, as defined by Margot Finn. Along with John Keble and Hurrell Froude, Newman founded the Tractarian Movement, an Oxford-based intellectual movement intending to rebuild the Catholic foundation of the Anglican Church, which at the time was facing an ever growing disquiet on behalf of its affiliates, for both ecclesiological and political reasons. In order to ignite a reformative dialogue within the Church of England, the Tractarians published a relevant number of Tracts from 1833 to 1845, when Newman converted to Catholicism. Newman’s conversion sparked a huge controversy within the public opinion, catholics at the time being subjected to a heavy cultural stigma within the establishment. Falsity, a propension to deceit and thirst for power connoted the catholic character in numerous religious novels in the Victorian period, thus prompting Newman to defend himself from similar allegations in various writings such as the Apologia Pro Vita Sua (1864). Newman’s literary writings were extremely successful, since they put on display a peculiar intersection between religious cultural issues and his own autobiography. Such intersection is the object of my thesis, which will articulate around a close-reading of Newman’s novel Loss and Gain (1848) in order to highlight the main features of the Cardinal’s literary theory and practice in relation to his overall theological views, and to project them on a synchronic and diacronic perspective to attest Newman’s legacy on Eighteenth and Nineteenth century literature.

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Au début de son Traité fondamental de la foi, Karl Rahner avise le lecteur que l’introduction au concept de christianisme qu’il propose se déploie à ce qu’il nomme un « premier niveau de réflexion » (erste Reflexionsstufe). S’il le distingue explicitement du niveau de réflexion des sciences entendues au sens usuel, il n’en donne pas de définition formelle, s’employant plutôt à le mettre en œuvre. Curieusement, eu égard à l’importance que lui accorde Rahner, la question de ce « plan » alternatif de compréhension et de justification de la foi chrétienne est demeurée pratiquement sans écho (un constat formulé par Max Seckler en 1984 et renouvelé par Karl H. Neufeld en 2006). C'est à cette question du « premier niveau de réflexion » chez Rahner que s'attache la présente étude. Après avoir dressé un état de la question, nous y présentons les jalons du déve-loppement du concept chez Rahner, depuis ses articles sur la formation des prêtres en contexte de pluralisme jusqu’au Traité fondamental de la foi. Nous y montrons ensuite en quoi la référence de Rahner à l'illative sense newmanien, contestée lorsqu’elle n’est pas négligée par les commentateurs, peut être une clé d’interprétation de la notion qui nous occupe, le « sens illatif » (et la Grammar of Assent) éclairant le « premier niveau de réflexion » (et le Traité fondamental), et vice versa. Nous y voyons enfin comment cette référence à Newman met sur la voie des Exercices spirituels d’Ignace de Loyola, lequel aura été pour Rahner non seulement un maître spirituel, mais également un maître de théologie. Ce qui paraissait n’être au début qu’une indication d’ordre didactique se révèle dès lors comme une caractérisation fondamentale de la théologie telle que la com-prend Rahner. / At the start of his Foundations of Christian Faith, Karl Rahner informs the reader that his proposed introduction to the idea of Christianity unfolds on a “first level of reflection” (erste Reflexionsstufe), as he labels it. Although he very clearly differentiates this level from that of the sciences in their usual sense, he does not provide a formal definition of the former, opting rather to implement it in his own work. Considering the importance this alternative “plan” for the understanding and the justification of the Christian faith had for Rahner, it is strangely interesting to note that practically no echo of this matter is found in subsequent literature (as stated by Max Seckler in 1984, and again, Karl H. Neufeld in 2006). The present study is devoted, precisely, to this question of the “first level of reflection”. Following our literature review, we will present the key moments in the development of Rahner’s concept, from his articles on the formation of priests in a pluralistic context to his Foundations of Christian Faith. Next, we will demonstrate how Rahner's reference to Newman's illative sense, though challenged (when not neglected) by commentators, could be a means of interpreting the notion this thesis is concerned with, insofar as the illative sense (and the Grammar of Assent) may shed light on the “first level of reflection” (and Foundations), and visa-versa. Ultimately, we will see how this reference to Newman paves the way to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, who was to be, for Rahner, not only a spiritual master, but also a theo-logical master. Therefore, what appeared to be a simple didactical opening statement reveals itself to be, from then on, a fundamental characterization of theology as understood by Rahner.

Au début de son Traité fondamental de la foi, Karl Rahner avise le lecteur que l’introduction au concept de christianisme qu’il propose se déploie à ce qu’il nomme un « premier niveau de réflexion » (erste Reflexionsstufe). S’il le distingue explicitement du niveau de réflexion des sciences entendues au sens usuel, il n’en donne pas de définition formelle, s’employant plutôt à le mettre en œuvre. Curieusement, eu égard à l’importance que lui accorde Rahner, la question de ce « plan » alternatif de compréhension et de justification de la foi chrétienne est demeurée pratiquement sans écho (un constat formulé par Max Seckler en 1984 et renouvelé par Karl H. Neufeld en 2006). C'est à cette question du « premier niveau de réflexion » chez Rahner que s'attache la présente étude. Après avoir dressé un état de la question, nous y présentons les jalons du déve-loppement du concept chez Rahner, depuis ses articles sur la formation des prêtres en contexte de pluralisme jusqu’au Traité fondamental de la foi. Nous y montrons ensuite en quoi la référence de Rahner à l'illative sense newmanien, contestée lorsqu’elle n’est pas négligée par les commentateurs, peut être une clé d’interprétation de la notion qui nous occupe, le « sens illatif » (et la Grammar of Assent) éclairant le « premier niveau de réflexion » (et le Traité fondamental), et vice versa. Nous y voyons enfin comment cette référence à Newman met sur la voie des Exercices spirituels d’Ignace de Loyola, lequel aura été pour Rahner non seulement un maître spirituel, mais également un maître de théologie. Ce qui paraissait n’être au début qu’une indication d’ordre didactique se révèle dès lors comme une caractérisation fondamentale de la théologie telle que la com-prend Rahner. / At the start of his Foundations of Christian Faith, Karl Rahner informs the reader that his proposed introduction to the idea of Christianity unfolds on a “first level of reflection” (erste Reflexionsstufe), as he labels it. Although he very clearly differentiates this level from that of the sciences in their usual sense, he does not provide a formal definition of the former, opting rather to implement it in his own work. Considering the importance this alternative “plan” for the understanding and the justification of the Christian faith had for Rahner, it is strangely interesting to note that practically no echo of this matter is found in subsequent literature (as stated by Max Seckler in 1984, and again, Karl H. Neufeld in 2006). The present study is devoted, precisely, to this question of the “first level of reflection”. Following our literature review, we will present the key moments in the development of Rahner’s concept, from his articles on the formation of priests in a pluralistic context to his Foundations of Christian Faith. Next, we will demonstrate how Rahner's reference to Newman's illative sense, though challenged (when not neglected) by commentators, could be a means of interpreting the notion this thesis is concerned with, insofar as the illative sense (and the Grammar of Assent) may shed light on the “first level of reflection” (and Foundations), and visa-versa. Ultimately, we will see how this reference to Newman paves the way to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, who was to be, for Rahner, not only a spiritual master, but also a theo-logical master. Therefore, what appeared to be a simple didactical opening statement reveals itself to be, from then on, a fundamental characterization of theology as understood by Rahner.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements of Doctor of Philosophy, Johannesburg, 2016. / This thesis is concerned with the meeting point between theatre and religion in the mid-Victorian consciousness, and the paradoxical responses that this engendered particularly in the novels and thought of Dickens, Newman and Charlotte Brontë. It contributes to the still growing body of critical literature that attempts to tease out the complex religious influences on Dickens and Brontë and how this manifests in their fiction. Newman is a religious writer whose fictional treatment of spiritual questions in Callista (1859) is used as a foil to the two novelists. There are two dimensions to this study: on the one hand it is concerned with the broader cultural anti-Catholic mood of the period under consideration and the various ways in which this connects with anti-theatricality. I argue that in the search for a legitimate means of expressing religious sentiments, writers react paradoxically to the latent possibilities of the conventions of religious ceremony, which is felt to be artificial, mystical, transcendent and threatening, inspiring the same contradictory responses as the theatre itself. The second dimension of this study is concerned with the way in which these sentiments manifest themselves stylistically in the novels under consideration: through a close reading of Barnaby Rudge (1841), Pictures From Italy (1846), and Villette (1852), I argue that in the interstices of a wariness of Catholicism and theatricality there is a heightening of language, which takes on a ritual dimension, evoking the paradoxical suggestions of transcendent meaning and artificiality associated with performance. Newman’s Callista (1859) acts as a counterpoint to these novels, enacting a more direct and persuasive argument for the spiritual value of ritual. This throws some light on the realist impulse in the fiction of Brontë and Dickens, which can be thought of as a struggle between a language that seeks to distance and explain, and a language that seeks to perform, involve, and inspire. In my discussion of Barnaby Rudge (1841) I argue that the ritual patterns in the narrative, still hauntingly reminiscent of a religious past, never become fully embodied. This is because the novel is written in a style that could be dubbed “melodramatic” because it both gestures towards transcendent presences and patterns and threatens to make nonsense of the spiritual echoes that it invokes. This sense of a gesture deferred is also present in the travelogue, Pictures from Italy (1846). Here I argue that Dickens struggles to maintain an objective journalistic voice in relation to a sacramental culture that is defined by an intrusive theatricality: he experiences Catholic practices and symbolism as simultaneously vital, chaotic and elusive, impossible to define or to dismiss. In Villette (1852) I suggest that Charlotte Brontë presents a disjuncture between Lucy’s ardour and the commonplace bourgeoisie world that she inhabits. This has the paradoxical effect of revitalising the images of the Catholic religion, which, despite Lucy’s antipathy, achieves a ghostly presence in the novel. In Callista (1859), I suggest that Newman concerns himself with the ritual possibilities and limitations of fiction, poetry and theatre. These dramatic and literary categories invoke and are ultimately subsumed in Christian ritual, which Newman considers the most refined form of language – the point at which detached description gives way to communion and participation. Keywords: Victorian literature, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë, John Henry Newman, ritual, religion, realism, theatricality, anti-Catholicism