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‘Between the Devil and the Deep Sea’: John Henry Newman and Richard Holt Hutton
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 September 2015
Extract
Newman’s correspondence is a rich harvest for understanding his thought, and the people with whom he corresponded were a fascinating group of individuals, many being influential thinkers in their own right. Among the latter was Richard Holt Hutton (1826–1897), journalist, critic, theologian, teacher and biographer. Son and grandson of Unitarian ministers, he eventually converted to an evangelical form of the Church of England, under the influence of F.W. Robertson and F.D. Maurice, having come to a deep belief in the Incarnation. With the previous experience as joint editor of The National Review and assistant editor of The Economist. Hutton was invited early in 1861 by Meredith Townsend, the new owner of The Spectator, a weekly newspaper with liberal leanings, to become joint editor and part proprietor. The Spectator became the forum in which Hutton was able to express his theological and literary-critical views for the remainder of his life. As this paper will show, the correspondence with Newman was another important means for Hutton to communicate his ideas, and, in conjunction with his critique of Newman he penned in other pieces, gives insight into the mind of an important Victorian, but also a new perspective from which to view Newman’s thought on such matters as revelation, the rôle of reason in coming to faith, and an infallible teaching authority.
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- Copyright © Catholic Record Society 1973
References
Notes
1 Dictionary of National Biography, Supplement 3 (1901), pp. 19–22.
2 Letters and Diaries of John Henry Newman Vol. 21, p. 61, n. 2. Henceforth, LD.
3 Ibidem, p. 55 (22 February 1864) Newman to Richard Holt Hutton.
4 Ibidem, p. 60 (25 February 1864) Richard Holt Hutton to Newman.
5 Ibidem, p. 68 (28 February 1864) Richard Holt Hutton to Newman.
6 Ibidem.
7 Ibidem.
8 Ibidem., p. 120 (15 June 1864) Richard Holt Hutton to Newman.
9 Ibidem..
10 Ibidem.
11 Ibidem.
12 Ibidem.
13 The expressions ‘self-revealing’, ‘self-evident’, and also ‘self-authenticating’ in Hutton’s thought seem to be synonymous, but also are not clearly defined by him because they seem to be open to interpretation, in fact a variation in interpretation, both Newman and I, to take two examples, understanding Hutton somewhat differently. Newman, it should be noticed will suggest further along in this essay what he thinks Hutton might mean by these expressions. To me, Hutton is saying that if revelation is self-revealing, it is so because it appeals directly to the human intellect and, through the intellect, to the human heart and, therefore, no authority external to the human intellect is required to authenticate the revelation.
14 LD, p. 120 (15 June 1864) Richard Holt Hutton to Newman.
15 Ibidem.
16 Ibidem.
17 Ibidem, pp. 120–121.
18 Ibidem, p. 121 (18 June 1864) Newman to Richard Holt Hutton.
19 Ibidem.
20 Ibidem.
21 Ibidem.
22 Ibidem, pp. 121, 122.
23 Ibidem.
24 Ibidem.
25 Natural revelation refers to what God makes known about himself in creation, such knowledge being available to human reason. Supernatural revelation refers to God’s plan of salvation, that cannot be known by unaided human reason and, therefore, requires God’s assistance in revelation. The substance of supernatural revelation is understood to have been completed by the end of the apostolic age, but unfolds through the teaching of the magisterium. Both natural revelation and supernatural revelation are public in nature, the former available to all human beings with minds attuned in reason to the Creator, and the latter available to those who are receptive to it in faith. Private revelation is God’s gift to an individual or group, which adds nothing to the publicly available supernatural revelation, but is a means to assist the person or group to salvation.
26 LD, p. 122.
27 Ibidem.
28 Ibidem, pp. 122–123 (28 June 1864) Richard Holt Hutton to Newman.
29 LD vol. 25: p. 29, n. 1,(3 June 1865) Richard Holt Hutton to Newman.
30 Ibidem.
31 LD vol. 23: p. 385, n. 1, (21 December 1867) Richard Holt Hutton to Newman.
32 LD vol. 24: p. 225 (25 February 1869) Richard Holt Hutton to Newman.
33 Ibidem, p. 226, n. 2, (28 March 1869) Richard Holt Hutton to Newman.
34 LD vol. 25: p. 29 (13 February 1870) Newman to Richard Holt Hutton.
35 Ibidem, p. 30.
36 Ibidem, p. 30 (16 February 1870) Newman to Richard Holt Hutton.
37 Ibidem.
38 Ibidem.
39 Ibidem, p. 31.
40 Ibidem, p. 32.
41 Ibidem, p. 110 (4 April 1870) Richard Holt Hutton to Newman.
42 Ibidem, p. 114 (27 April 1870) Newman to Richard Holt Hutton.
43 Ibidem.
44 Ibidem.
45 Ibidem.
46 Ibidem., p. 110 (4 April 1870) Richard Holt Hutton to Newman.
47 Ibidem, p. 115 (27 April 1870) Newman to Richard Holt Hutton.
48 Ibidem, p. 115, n. 1.
49 Ibidem, p. 302, n. 3, (21 March 1871) Richard Holt Hutton to Newman.
50 Ibidem, p. 303 (19 March 1870) Newman to Richard Holt Hutton.
51 Ibidem, p. 303, n. 2, (21 March 1871) Richard Holt Hutton to Newman.
52 Ibidem, p. 418 (20 October 1871) Newman to Richard Holt Hutton.
53 Ibtdem.
54 LD vol. 26, p. 38 {20 February 1872) Richard Holt Hutton to Newman.
55 lbidem.
56 Ibidem, p. 39.
57 Ibidem.
58 Ibidem, pp. 40–41.
59 Ibidem, p. 41.
60 Ibidem.
61 Ibidem.
62 Ibidem, p.49 (24 March 1872) Newman to Richard Holt Hutton.
63 Holt Hutton, Richard, Theological Essays, 4th Edition, (London: Macmillan and Co., 1895), pp. ix–x Google Scholar, passim.
64 Ibidem, pp. xi–xvi, passim.
65 Ibidem, pp. xxiv–xxviii, passim.
66 Holt Hutton, Richard, Essays on Some of the Modern Guides of English Thought in Matters of Faith, (London: Macmillan and Co., 1887), p. 70.Google Scholar
67 Ibidem, pp. 78–79, passim.
68 Ibidem, p. 79.
69 Ibidem, p. 81.
70 Ibidem, p. 82.
71 Ibidem, pp. 83–84.
72 Ibidem, pp. 86–87.
73 Holt Hutton, Richard, Cardinal Newman, 2nd Edition, (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1891), p. 5.Google Scholar
74 Ibidem, p. 29.
75 Ibidem, p. 30.
76 Ibidem.
77 Ibidem.
78 Ibidem.
79 Ibidem pp. 30–31.
80 Ibidem, p. 31.
81 Ibidem, pp. 93–94, passim.
82 Ibidem, p. 134.
83 Ibidem, pp. 134–135.
84 Ibidem, p. 135.
85 Ibidem, pp. 136–137.
86 Ibidem, p. 137.
87 ibidem, p. 162.
88 Ibidem, p. 187.
89 Ibidem.
90 Ibidem, pp. 188–189, passim.
91 Ibidem, p. 195.
92 Ibidem, p. 205.
93 Ibidem, p. 206.
94 Ibidem, p. 238.
95 Ibidem, pp. 239–241 passim.