John Henry Newman (1801-90) was brought up in the Church of England in the Evangelical tradition. An Oxford graduate and Fellow of Oriel College, he was appointed Vicar of St Mary's Oxford in 1828; from 1839 onwards he began to have doubts about the claims of the Anglican Church and in 1845 he was received into the Roman Catholic Church. He was made a Cardinal in 1879. His influence on both the restoration of Roman Catholicism in England and the advance of Catholic ideas in the Church of England was profound. Volume VIII covers a turbulent period in Newman's life with the publication of Tract 90. His attempt to show the compatibility of the 39 Articles with Catholic doctrine caused a storm both in the University of Oxford and in the Church. He and others were horrified by the establishment of a joint Anglo-Prussian Bishopric in Jerusalem, considering it an attempt to give Apostolical succession to an heretical church. In 1842 he moved away from the hubbub of Oxford life to nearby Littlemore.

Modern theological engagements on deification have undergone two major paradigm shifts. First, the study of deification shifted from the periphery of theological discourse to its center. For Adolf von Harnack, deification was a pagan import that fatally corrupted and distorted the Gospel message of salvation. In response, the positive retrieval of the concept of deification belongs to the early years of the twentieth century. By the 1910s in Russian religious thought and by the 1930s in much Roman Catholic theology, deification had become a magnet concept attracting attention from many different viewpoints. The second important shift relates to how deification is characterized. Recent studies question the exclusively 'Eastern' character of deification and draw attention to the engagements of this theme in Latin patristic and later Western Christian sources. Reassessing the evidence for these two major shifts, The Oxford Handbook of Deification comprehensively explores the points of convergence and difference on the constitutive elements of deification in different traditions, and offers a foundation for ecumenical and interreligious dialogues. The Handbook's first part analyzes the cultural and scriptural roots of deification; the second part explores the most significant historical contributions to the understanding of deification in the early, medieval, and modern periods; the third part develops systematic connections. Readers will discover a surprizing breadth, depth, and diversity of theologies of deification in Christian traditions. Throughout the Handbook, leading scholars in the field of Deification Studies propose vital new insights from a variety of perspectives for this central mystery at the heart of the Christian faith.

John Henry Newman (1801-90) was brought up in the Church of England in the Evangelical tradition. An Oxford graduate and Fellow of Oriel College, he was appointed Vicar of St Mary's Oxford in 1828; from 1839 onwards he began to have doubts about the claims of the Anglican Church and in 1845 he was received into the Roman Catholic Church. He was made a Cardinal in 1879. His influence on both the restoration of Roman Catholicism in England and the advance of Catholic ideas in the Church of England was profound. This volume covers a crucially important and significant period in Newman's life. The Church of England bishops' continuing condemnation of Tract 90 - plus Pusey's two-year suspension for preaching a university sermon on the Real Presence - are major factors in Newman resigning as Vicar of St Mary's, Oxford. His doubts about the Church of England are deeper and stronger than ever, and he is moving closer to Rome. William Lockhart's sudden defection to Rome in August 1843 precipitates his resignation. He preaches his final Anglican sermon, 'The Parting of Friends', and retires into lay communion at Littlemore. The first edition of University Sermons, including the celebrated sermon on theological development, virtually sells out within a fortnight.

This book serves as the definitive guide to Blessed John Henry Newman's central thoughts and ideas. In these pages, you will discover Cardinal Newman's reflections on more than 100 theological topics ranging from Angels, Absolution, and the Bible, through Confession, the Eucharist, Infallibility, and the Inquisition, and reaching all the way to the Sacraments, the Saints, Transubstantiation, and the Trinity.