An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine

This 1845 work discusses the development of Christian teaching and serves as a defence of the fidelity of Catholicism.

Published in 1845, the Essay is an important work from English clergyman John Henry Newman. Written during his own conversion from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism, it discusses how the development of Christian teaching over time in Rome and elsewhere was a natural response to human appropriation of God's transcendent truths.John Henry Newman (1801–1890) remains one of the best-known and influential English churchmen of the nineteenth century. Ordained as a priest in the Anglican Church in 1825, he converted to Roman Catholicism, being ordained as a priest and later appointed cardinal. His works include Grammar of Assent (1870) and Apologia Pro Vita Sua (1865–1866) as well as this Essay (1845), written in the midst of his own religious transformation. He discusses his theory of the development of Christian dogma: 'from the nature of the human mind, time is necessary for the full comprehension and perfection of great ideas … the longer time and deeper thought for their full elucidation'. By showing how fidelity to timeless truths coexisted in Christianity together with deeper and more developed understanding over time, Newman provides a helpful personal and theological apology for the teaching and practice of Catholicism against its detractors.