The Personalism of John Henry Newman

"What John F. Crosby provides in this superb volume is an account of John Henry Newman's distinctive form of personalism. Both the veteran reader of Newman and the reader eager to have an introduction to Newman's thought will profit from this fine volume. It offers not only a sympathetic entry into his mind, but a helpful survey of the varieties of personalism and a critical sense of their characteristic doctrines, by way of examining Newman's place within that field." —International Philosophical Quarterly

"Long-standing students of Newman will welcome Crosby's fine study, while newcomers will find here a winning introduction to the thought of the great precursor of Vatican II. The book, written in an engaging, almost conversational style, develops a careful, cogent argument for Newman as a "personalist" thinker. In making this case, Crosby suggestively places Newman in relation to thinkers like Kierkegaard and William James, Max Scheler and Rudolf Otto, Romano Guardini and Dietrich von Hildebrand. Like Newman, these thinkers sought to overcome a constricted understanding of human experience, fruit of a too narrowly defined rationalism, and broadened it to encompass the affective and interpersonal realms." —Theological Studies

"Crosby's book is an excellent addition to Newman scholarship as well as to personalist thinkers. Newman scholars will gain from the exposure to (mostly European) personalists whose thought clarifies and extends Newman's vision, while personalists will gain from their exposure to a great English prose writer ahead on the path." —American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly

"Crosby demonstrates that Newman's writings—especially his sermons—are suffused with original, existential character; thus Newman, in effect, anticipates and is in dialogue with subsequent thinkers such as Freud, Scheler, Otto, and von Hildebrand. Readers familiar with Newman will profit from this careful, clear, well-reasoned, persuasive, and engaging work." —Choice

John F. Crosby is professor of philosophy at Franciscan University of Steubenville