John Henry Newman
English theologian and cardinal (1801 to 1890); author of The Idea of a University.
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What they believe
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A university exists to teach universal knowledge, not to make discoveries or train morals
If its object were scientific and philosophical discovery, I do not see why a University should have students; if religious training, I do not see how it can be the seat of literature and science.
gutenberg.orgSaid c. 1852–1890This on korrents
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Beliefs
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A university exists to teach universal knowledge, not to make discoveries or train morals
If its object were scientific and philosophical discovery, I do not see why a University should have students; if religious training, I do not see how it can be the seat of literature and science.
The Idea of a University, Part I: University Teaching (Discourses, 1852) Said c. 1852–1890
A university cannot properly fulfil its object without the Church's help
But, practically speaking, it cannot fulfil its object duly, such as I have described it, without the Church's assistance; or, to use the theological term, the Church is necessary for its integrity.
The Idea of a University, Part I: University Teaching (Discourses, 1852) Said c. 1852–1890
Religious doctrine is knowledge, and university teaching without theology is unphilosophical
Religious doctrine is knowledge, in as full a sense as Newton's doctrine is knowledge. University Teaching without Theology is simply unphilosophical.
The Idea of a University, Part I: University Teaching (Discourses, 1852) Said c. 1852–1890
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If religious truth exists, ignoring it damages truth of every other kind
I only say, if there be Religious Truth at all, we cannot shut our eyes to it without prejudice to truth of every kind, physical, metaphysical, historical, and moral; for it bears upon all truth.
The Idea of a University, Part I: University Teaching (Discourses, 1852) Said c. 1852–1890
When a science is dropped from the curriculum, other sciences overstep into its territory
I observe, then, that, if you drop any science out of the circle of knowledge, you cannot keep its place vacant for it; that science is forgotten; the other sciences close up, or, in other words, they exceed their proper bounds, and intrude where they have no right.
The Idea of a University, Part I: University Teaching (Discourses, 1852) Said c. 1852–1890
Knowledge can be its own end and its own reward
Knowledge is capable of being its own end. Such is the constitution of the human mind, that any kind of knowledge, if it be really such, is its own reward.
The Idea of a University, Part I: University Teaching (Discourses, 1852) Said c. 1852–1890
Knowledge and virtue are different things, and intellectual refinement is not moral goodness
Knowledge is one thing, virtue is another; good sense is not conscience, refinement is not humility, nor is largeness and justness of view faith.
The Idea of a University, Part I: University Teaching (Discourses, 1852) Said c. 1852–1890
Liberal education produces a gentleman, not a Christian
Philosophy, however enlightened, however profound, gives no command over the passions, no influential motives, no vivifying principles. Liberal Education makes not the Christian, not the Catholic, but the gentleman.
The Idea of a University, Part I: University Teaching (Discourses, 1852) Said c. 1852–1890
Human knowledge and reason are too delicate to overcome human passion and pride
Quarry the granite rock with razors, or moor the vessel with a thread of silk; then may you hope with such keen and delicate instruments as human knowledge and human reason to contend against those giants, the passion and the pride of man.
The Idea of a University, Part I: University Teaching (Discourses, 1852) Said c. 1852–1890
Liberal education is simply the cultivation of the intellect, aiming at intellectual excellence
Surely it is very intelligible to say, and that is what I say here, that Liberal Education, viewed in itself, is simply the cultivation of the intellect, as such, and its object is nothing more or less than intellectual excellence.
The Idea of a University, Part I: University Teaching (Discourses, 1852) Said c. 1852–1890
The error of recent education has been forcing so much on students that they reject it all
I will tell you, Gentlemen, what has been the practical error of the last twenty years,—not to load the memory of the student with a mass of undigested knowledge, but to force upon him so much that he has rejected all.
The Idea of a University, Part I: University Teaching (Discourses, 1852) Said c. 1852–1890
The useful is not always good, but the good is always useful
“Good” indeed means one thing, and “useful” means another; but I lay it down as a principle, which will save us a great deal of anxiety, that, though the useful is not always good, the good is always useful.
The Idea of a University, Part I: University Teaching (Discourses, 1852) Said c. 1852–1890
The practical end of a university course is training good members of society
If then a practical end must be assigned to a University course, I say it is that of training good members of society. Its art is the art of social life, and its end is fitness for the world.
The Idea of a University, Part I: University Teaching (Discourses, 1852) Said c. 1852–1890
A university does not produce geniuses or heroes
Works indeed of genius fall under no art; heroic minds come under no rule; a University is not a birthplace of poets or of immortal authors, of founders of schools, leaders of colonies, or conquerors of nations.
The Idea of a University, Part I: University Teaching (Discourses, 1852) Said c. 1852–1890
University education teaches a person to see things as they are and to spot sophistry
It teaches him to see things as they are, to go right to the point, to disentangle a skein of thought, to detect what is sophistical, and to discard what is irrelevant.
The Idea of a University, Part I: University Teaching (Discourses, 1852) Said c. 1852–1890
A gentleman can almost be defined as one who never inflicts pain
Hence it is that it is almost a definition of a gentleman to say he is one who never inflicts pain. This description is both refined and, as far as it goes, accurate.
The Idea of a University, Part I: University Teaching (Discourses, 1852) Said c. 1852–1890
The gentleman of today is a product of civilization rather than of Christianity
At this day the “gentleman” is the creation, not of Christianity, but of civilization.
The Idea of a University, Part I: University Teaching (Discourses, 1852) Said c. 1852–1890
The world fixes the surface of things while the Church seeks to renew the heart
The world is content with setting right the surface of things; the Church aims at regenerating the very depths of the heart.
The Idea of a University, Part I: University Teaching (Discourses, 1852) Said c. 1852–1890
A literature that faithfully studies human nature cannot be sinless
It is a contradiction in terms to attempt a sinless Literature of sinful man. You may gather together something very great and high, something higher than any Literature ever was; and when you have done so, you will find that it is not Literature at all.
The Idea of a University, Part I: University Teaching (Discourses, 1852) Said c. 1852–1890
The Church should seek a place in secular schools rather than exclude literature from them
I cannot feel any doubt myself, Gentlemen, that the Church's true policy is not to aim at the exclusion of Literature from Secular Schools, but at her own admission into them.
The Idea of a University, Part I: University Teaching (Discourses, 1852) Said c. 1852–1890
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