I first came across the name John Henry Newman in primary school. The hymns Firmly I Believe and Truly and Praise to the Holiest were often sung at our school Masses. Later when I was in secondary school I read his Apologia and The Idea of a University. At that time I understood that he was a very significant Victorian figure. I only came to appreciate that he is moreover an original theological thinker of great magnitude when I started to read German theology. The Germans love Newman!
Joseph Ratzinger described Newman as one of the heroes for his generation of seminarians. Newman’s most significant publications, including the Grammar of Assent and Essay on the Development of Doctrine, were translated into German by Theodor Haecker, who was a friend of Hans and Sophie Scholl, the martyrs of the White Rose movement. It was actually Newman’s work on conscience that inspired the White Rose students to resist the Nazis. Gottlieb Söhngen, who was the young
