A Paper Delivered at the Newman Association of America 2017 Conference

Much of what would become John Henry Newman’s understanding of doctrinal development was initiated in his 1834 correspondence with Abbé Jean-Nicholas Jager. The crucial role of this exchange for Newman’s ecclesiology—particularly his enduring distinction between the “Prophetical Office” of theologians and the “Apostolical Office” of bishops—is little regarded in studies of his turn to doctrinal development and eventual Catholic conversion. Still less regarded is the critical role of Anglican-Tractarian friends—Richard Hurrell Froude and Benjamin Harrison—pressing Newman to follow through on the implications of his distinction. Where Newman’s debate with Jager initiated Newman’s progress toward the development of doctrine and where Wiseman’s 1839 review of the Tracts for the Times marked his point of no return, the “severe mercies” of God mediated by Froude and Harrison were painful, indispensable way points marking his progress toward the truth.