Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 3, Nos. 2 &3, 2004, Page 40
and pastoral ministry. He hid the simplicity and depth of his faith under the austere
appearance of a rigid professor, indifferent to both sympathy and success. Nevertheless, his
example and the straightforwardness of his words earned him the esteem of Newman, who
knew how to look beyond the man‘s timidity (Apologia 16).
In religion, Rev. Mayers was a convinced supporter of Evangelicalism. The essence of the
Evangelical stream then within the Anglican Communion was to bring souls to the purity and
rigorous simplicity of faith. This movement was conceived more as an experience of assured
salvation than as an adhesion to dogmas. From this came the importance attributed to
conversion and new birth, giving to each one the certainty of his own salvation experienced
through the grace of Jesus Christ. Accompanying this conversion was an austere morality
that added a rigid code of conduct to the piety of Evangelicals (17-18).
Instead of being sent to a college like Newman, Unamuno at age 14 found his tutors in
reading the only books available to him in the library of his father: the philosophers Balmes
and Donoso. Nonetheless, this limited collection opened his mind to a whole new world of
philosophy.
Por Balmes me enteré de que había un Kant, un Descartes, un Hegel. Apenas
entendí yo palabra de su Filosofía fundamental – esa obra tan endeble entre
las endebles otras balmesianas --,y, sin embargo, con un ahínco grande, el
ahínco mismo que aplicado después a la gimnasia regeneró mi cuerpo, me
empeñé en leerla entera y la leí. (Recuerdos 105)
Through Balmes I learnt there was a Kant, a Descartes, a Hegel. I barely
understood a word of their fundamental Philosophy – that feeble work among
other feeble works of Balmes --,and, nonetheless, with great effort, the same
effort later applied to my body at the gymnasium, I pledged to read it all, and
I did.
Those days for Unamuno were a combination of emotional mysticism and philosophical
searching. Deeply emotional and intellectually curious, the stage was set for a philosophy of
life linking heart and head, will and imagination. Sometimes, he cried without an
explanation on others, he would fall sleep with a book in his hands (104).
The results were different for both teenagers, but with amazing similarities. In Newman's
case, the new birth of conversion portrayed a conviction of a singular predestination from
God, acquired by a strong effort of the will and imagination. John Henry experienced the
certainty of God‘s pardon in a stirring intuition, thought necessary to reach the certitude
that Christ had redeemed him from sin. This proof was as absolute and infallible as the fact
of one‘s ―own hands and feet‖ (Apologia 16). So, yielding to a flood of emotions, his heart
let itself go in a touching avowal of gratitude and love for his God who had filled it from his
most bountiful mercy. The barrenness of moral formalism and the skepticism of rationalism
seem to have been answered by a personal call by God towards emotional piety. How
objective was Newman's conversion to this ardent devotion? Was this God neither that of
the philosophers nor that of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but rather the God of Newman's
own emotional needs?
In the Apologia, Newman stated the circumstances of his conversion and his debt to Rev.
Mayers. As to the objective content of his conversion, we notice that it was not a mere
subjective certainty of conversion. The latter would involve the vicious circle of subjectivity,
with certitude based on certitude. Rather Newman noticed a great change of thought, rather
than emotion:
When I was fifteen, a great change of thought took place in me. I fell under
the influence of a definite Creed, and received into my intellect impressions of
dogma ...I neither recollect the title nor the contents, except one doctrine,
and pastoral ministry. He hid the simplicity and depth of his faith under the austere
appearance of a rigid professor, indifferent to both sympathy and success. Nevertheless, his
example and the straightforwardness of his words earned him the esteem of Newman, who
knew how to look beyond the man‘s timidity (Apologia 16).
In religion, Rev. Mayers was a convinced supporter of Evangelicalism. The essence of the
Evangelical stream then within the Anglican Communion was to bring souls to the purity and
rigorous simplicity of faith. This movement was conceived more as an experience of assured
salvation than as an adhesion to dogmas. From this came the importance attributed to
conversion and new birth, giving to each one the certainty of his own salvation experienced
through the grace of Jesus Christ. Accompanying this conversion was an austere morality
that added a rigid code of conduct to the piety of Evangelicals (17-18).
Instead of being sent to a college like Newman, Unamuno at age 14 found his tutors in
reading the only books available to him in the library of his father: the philosophers Balmes
and Donoso. Nonetheless, this limited collection opened his mind to a whole new world of
philosophy.
Por Balmes me enteré de que había un Kant, un Descartes, un Hegel. Apenas
entendí yo palabra de su Filosofía fundamental – esa obra tan endeble entre
las endebles otras balmesianas --,y, sin embargo, con un ahínco grande, el
ahínco mismo que aplicado después a la gimnasia regeneró mi cuerpo, me
empeñé en leerla entera y la leí. (Recuerdos 105)
Through Balmes I learnt there was a Kant, a Descartes, a Hegel. I barely
understood a word of their fundamental Philosophy – that feeble work among
other feeble works of Balmes --,and, nonetheless, with great effort, the same
effort later applied to my body at the gymnasium, I pledged to read it all, and
I did.
Those days for Unamuno were a combination of emotional mysticism and philosophical
searching. Deeply emotional and intellectually curious, the stage was set for a philosophy of
life linking heart and head, will and imagination. Sometimes, he cried without an
explanation on others, he would fall sleep with a book in his hands (104).
The results were different for both teenagers, but with amazing similarities. In Newman's
case, the new birth of conversion portrayed a conviction of a singular predestination from
God, acquired by a strong effort of the will and imagination. John Henry experienced the
certainty of God‘s pardon in a stirring intuition, thought necessary to reach the certitude
that Christ had redeemed him from sin. This proof was as absolute and infallible as the fact
of one‘s ―own hands and feet‖ (Apologia 16). So, yielding to a flood of emotions, his heart
let itself go in a touching avowal of gratitude and love for his God who had filled it from his
most bountiful mercy. The barrenness of moral formalism and the skepticism of rationalism
seem to have been answered by a personal call by God towards emotional piety. How
objective was Newman's conversion to this ardent devotion? Was this God neither that of
the philosophers nor that of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but rather the God of Newman's
own emotional needs?
In the Apologia, Newman stated the circumstances of his conversion and his debt to Rev.
Mayers. As to the objective content of his conversion, we notice that it was not a mere
subjective certainty of conversion. The latter would involve the vicious circle of subjectivity,
with certitude based on certitude. Rather Newman noticed a great change of thought, rather
than emotion:
When I was fifteen, a great change of thought took place in me. I fell under
the influence of a definite Creed, and received into my intellect impressions of
dogma ...I neither recollect the title nor the contents, except one doctrine,
