This article, presented in two parts, traces the use of “Reserve” in the writings of John Keble, John Henry Newman, and Isaac Williams. The principle of reserve was explored in the nineteenth-century Tractarian movement and is the idea that sacred truths should remain hidden until the person is prepared to receive them. Robin C. Selby published a book in 1975 on this topic, entitled, The Principle of Reserve in the Writings of John Henry, Cardinal Newman (Oxford University Press).
This article, presented in two parts, traces the use of “Reserve” in the writings of John Keble, John Henry Newman, and Isaac Williams. The principle of reserve was explored in the nineteenth-century Tractarian movement and is the idea that sacred truths should remain hidden until the person is prepared to receive them. Robin C. Selby published a book in 1975 on this topic, entitled, The Principle of Reserve in the Writings of John Henry, Cardinal Newman (Oxford University Press).
In the nineteenth century, tensions were acutely felt in religious controversies, such as the Protestant emphasis on sola scriptura, which often privileged individual interpretation over ecclesial tradition, and emerging Catholic debates over historical-critical methods, as exemplified by figures like Alfred Loisy and the Modernist Crisis. John Henry Newman navigated similar turbulent waters as an Anglican convert to Catholicism, developed an implicit pneumatological hermeneutics that positioned the Holy Spirit as the vital guide for both personal and communal engagement with the biblical text.
Imagine a candlestick resting on a table in the corner of a dark room, whose flame does not fade, does not flicker, and does not burn out, but perpetually illuminates the corner and draws others towards its light. This everlasting flame is like a teaching of a Doctor of the Universal Church, seeking not to illumine the entirety of the dark room, but keeps the corner of the room illuminated. Similarly, the teachings of the Church Doctors illumine some component(s) of the mysteries of the Catholic faith without trying to plumb the entirety of the mystery of God.
Most clergy, Christian educators, and parents are aware of the challenges facing evangelization and catechesis in our world today. The rise of secularism has left many Christians with an inadequate understanding of who God is and how God relates to us. Scientism and materialism have limited the scope of our worldview to exclude the divine, and therefore the anthropology for many in today’s world does not account for the God-human relationship.
Newman, as an Anglican, had a high Mariology (for an Anglican, a surprisingly high Mariology), yet he also combined his reverence for Mary with some kind of caution or warning that such notions could lead to doctrines and practices that were not sanctioned by the Church of England. In reality, that caution (or warning) was both a message by Newman to his congregation and a message to himself—to a conscience that was beginning to doubt the veracity of his own ideas.
