Making fun of Anglicans

Sean Finnegan wonders whether it was a good idea to reprint Newman's tirade against the C of E IAM DELIGFITED to be able to let you know that the
English publishers Gracewing, in collaboration with Notre Dame, Indiana, have embarked on a project to reprint the works of Cardinal John Henry Newman. This volume is the first of the series to reach the public, and Gracewing, Birmingham Oratory, and Dr James Tolhurst (the series editor) are to be congratulated on this long overdue initiative.
Newman produced this series of lectures in the summer of 1851, to be delivered to the Brothers of the Oratory in Birmingham. In that year the Catholic Church had been the subject of considerable and public controversy; the previous year had seen the re-establishment of the Hierarchy and the publication of Wiseman's Letter Jim Without the Flaminian Gate, which had sparked a conflagration of protest from all corners of British society; a debate had been initiated in which the status and existence of the English Catholic Church were openly argued. Catholics in these lands were, of course, inured to being the objects of scorn and hostility; it was only now that they felt able to let their voice be heard in return for the first time.
In the Lectures on the Present Position of Catholics in England, we are presented with a new aspect of Newman; for once not just the careful theologian with whom we are so familiar. Instead, he adopts a rather bellicose, satirical tone which, we may assume, delighted his Catholic audience as he turned his formidable intelligence against the people who had made their lives a misery for so long. It was to get him into trouble, however. His remorseless exposure of one hero of anti-Catholicism, Giacinto Achilli, a renegade Dominican, landed him in court on libel charges. He was found guilty, though all fair parties agreed that Newman had more than proved his case.
Regarding the present publication of this work, there is a very good introduction by Dr Andrew Nash which tells us almost more than we need to know about the book. The history of anti-Catholicism is sketched, and the immediate background to the book is dealt with thoroughly. There is a good analysis of the literary style, which is useful since Newman so rarely employed satire. At the back, I found Dr Nash's notes on the text to be thoughtful and most helpful, with the reservations that I will come to in a moment. His thoroughness is to be expected, since the edition of the book represents his doctoral thesis.
I'm afraid, however. that on the production side I have some negative considerations to offer. There is not the slightest doubt that a new complete edition of Newman is long overdue, But if the production team contin ues to use this one as a model. it will have been an opportunity wasted. First, we need a modem edition of the text itself, not just modem commentary; in this Gracewing version, a Victorian book has simply been photocopied. The effect of this is to render Dr Nash's excellent notes nearly useless, since there are not even hand-added marks (asterisks or whatever) to suggest that a puzzle in the text has an explanatory note at the back; one simply has to guess.
Secondly, there is no index. This is a major lack in any serious edition; in fact we badly need a comprehensive index in English to all Newman's works; I am told that the Germans managed to produce one years ago. In the past, the work of producing a complete resetting and index would undoubtedly have been a major undertaking, but these days, with optical character recognition software and sophisticated desktop publishing programmes both these tasks could be accomplished easily and quickly. And when the series was finished, the results of the accumulated indices could be collated and issued as a separate volume. May I implore Gracewing to take this on board before they have made too many reprints in this series? It is a shame, too, that more trouble was not taken over the presentation. A "complete edition" of a work needs to look good on a shelf, and the lurid purple and orange dust cover just won't. The cloth binding underneath isn't very attractive, either.
There is another issue, which present a little diffidently. Why did this series begin with this particular work? Was it simply that it was ready to hand? Of course, any complete edition would have to include this book, which the author himself considered one of his best, but it is seems such a bellicose way to begin — giving an impression that Gracewing do not intend, I'm sure.
Why not start a series with one of Newman's classic texts, such as the Apologia Pm Vita Sua, or the Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine? Perhaps some of these are already in print, but they will have to appear at some stage in this edition. At any rate the series ought, I feel, to have begun with something a little less controversial, a little more eirenical, than a work openly ridiculing Anglicanism, and which belongs much more firmly in the world of 1851 than today, when the tide of anti-Catholicism, though stillflowing, comes from a different direction; from the secular, rather than the religious world, and Anglicanism itself is being attacked with similar vigour.
S0, HOW WOUID i sum this book up? It is an excellent edition, though with some production flaws that need to be corrected. The notes and introduction alone certainly make it worth buying.
I would like to end with anappeal.The last few years have seen the publication of a number of really good biographies and essays on and about Newman. But there are still necessary works to be produced_ Not only do we need a really good index for Newman, but we need a thorough and userfriendly guide to his ideas and writings. Such a task was undertaken magnificently for CS Lewis by Walter Hooper in the CS Lewis Companion and Guide. Could something of the sort not be attempted for Newman'? Please?