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Jóvenes las comunidades cristianas, esperaban la próxima venida del reino
del Hijo de Dios la persona y la vida del Divino Maestro eran el norte de sus
anhelos y sentires. Sentíanse henchidas de verdadera fe, de la que con la
esperanza se confunde, de lo que se llamó pistis, fe o confianza, fe religiosa y
no teologal, fe pura y libre todavía de dogmas. (Obras completas: 4: 1020)
When the Christian communities were young, they hoped for the next coming
of the kingdom of the Son of God the person and life of the Divine Master
was the aim of their longings and feelings. Full of true faith, that which is
confused with hope, called pistis, faith or trust, a religious not theological
faith, a pure faith free from dogmas.
Hence, their sense of Christian truth and hope were both directed towards a Person. Their
religious faith is neither towards an idea nor an authority nor a virtuous life in themselves,
but rather towards the Person of Jesus. This God revealed in a truth, an example, and a way
of life. This Person, therefore, for a Christian, is above any dogma, authority, and morality.
So, the need to follow conscience towards a philosophy, creed, and lifestyle was ultimately
the need to follow the person of Jesus.
Finally, for both seekers their changes did not exclude moral commitment. Newman has no
consciousness that ―this belief would lead me to be careless about pleasing God‖ (Apologia
16). Unamuno finishes his article insisting on the moral needs of this faith, and the necessity
of this kind of faith to live accordingly (―¡Pistis y no gnosis!‖ 1024).
Newman and Unamuno's conversions, therefore, were similar to that of the Evangelicals.
There was the same isolation of conscience from beings and things, a sense of being free,
alone, and dependent on God, with the same assurance of being saved. We find the same
openness of the young Newman and Unamuno to the call of living life to the full, the wish to
surpass self in pursuit of the truth, the enjoyment of a lifelong purpose and the need of an
ideal. In these texts of the Apologia and the Recuerdos de niñez y mocedad we note the
admiration of young disciples who find philosophical and religious masters, not only through
discussion and reasoning, but also through reasons known only to the heart. Future years
will change some of their ideas and convictions, including the rejection of their teenage
mentors, but a durable foundation will subsist. Profound values of personalized religion,
definite hope, and ethical consistency will bear abundant fruit in Newman's and Unamuno's
future endeavor to follow conscience.
But both Newman and Unamuno also soon saw their masters‘ limits. Beyond the
enthusiastic certainty, Newman sought the reason for his conversion and certainty of
perseverance. The strength of his emotions did not block out the processes of his mind.
Though accepting Mayers as his teacher, Newman did not cease seeking after truth. As will
be his characteristic in the future, Newman‘s conscience was above any teacher, because
his conscience was his personal relationship of duty and friendship with truth. While
preserving the essence of his conversion experience as a personal relationship with God who
loves and saves him, Newman shows his independence of mind not to identify either God or
truth with those who claimed to be either his representatives or teachers. Hence, his later
toast, as a famed Catholic convert, to Conscience, and then to the Pope. "I add one
remark. Certainly, if I am obliged to bring religion into after-dinner toasts, (which indeed
does not seem quite the thing) I shall drink—to the Pope, if you please,—still to Conscience
first, and to the Pope afterwards" (Letter to the Duke of Norfolk 261).
Upon moving to Oxford, Mayers gave the teenage Newman a work to read of the evangelical
Bishop Beveridge. Mayers‘ letter at the end of the month revealed the Master‘s innermost
fears:

Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 3, Nos. 2 &3, 2004, Page 43
On perusing it you will see that the opinions which we have discussed, though
at present singular, are not novel, nor are they without authority, for they are
deduced from the only authentic source. To that source let me direct your
attention. Be more disposed to form your sentiments upon religion from that,
than to adopt and interpret it to your opinions. (Correspondence 115)
This quotation not only reveals the fears of a master losing his disciple but also touches the
nerve of liberty of conscience. The master based the force of his argument on the fact that
the matters discussed are neither novel nor without authority, but based on an authority,
the book of Beveridge. ―Not novel‖ is an appeal to tradition, which begs the question, what
authority has that tradition got? Whereas, the second appeal to authority as the ―only
authentic source‖ is equally empty, if not dangerous. The implication is that Bishop
Beveridge is authoritative in religious matters, and, hence, is the voice of God. Mayers‘
command to be ―more disposed‖ to Beveridge begs the final question of Mayers‘ own
authority to command, and the limits thereof. His rejection of Newman's opinions in favor of
Beveridge‘s without giving reasons why smacks of religious despotism. This reflects a
reference to cult-tactics described in the Confessions of St. Augustine:
If Faustus were so sure of his postulates, why was he so afraid of questions .
..This implies that either Faustus did not have all the answers or the very
fact of his not having all the answers did not fit in with the cult‘s credo. His
rejection of ―the give and take of argument‖ would imply no argument, except
the authority of Faustus to allow no argument. (A Toast to Conscience 24)
Unamuno, in his Recuerdos de niñez y mocedad, never tires in the hunt for ideas initially
escaping his grasp. Reading Kant, Fichte and Hegel, causes him vertigo, but the critical
skills, seen later in his life, are also present in the young Unamuno's reading of Balmes and
Donoso. The difficulty of understanding philosophy motivates Unamuno to seek deeper
insight (Recuerdos 105-06):
As with Newman vis-à-vis Mayers, Unamuno begins to think critically about his masters.
Their readings bring him to knowledge of greater philosophers, but also to a critical analysis
of his initial masters. Soon they who opened his eyes to philosophy also enable him to see
their limits, especially in the philosophers they presented. In fact, their very reading of
Kant, Fichte and Hegel seems inadequate to the searching mind of Unamuno.
Oversimplification leads to infidelity to the authors:
La desilusión de Balmes fué lo que empezó a abrirme los ojos. El espíritu del
publicista catalán, una especie de escocés de quinta mano, tenía no poco de
infantil simplicificaba todo lo que criticaba, ganando la discusión en claridad
cuanto perdía en exactitud la exposición de las doctrinas criticadas. (106)
My disillusionment with Balmes was what opened my eyes. The Catalan
publicist‘s spirit, a kind of fifth-hand Scottish species, had not little
childishness he simplified all he criticized, winning the argument in clarity
while losing out on exactness of the exposition of the criticized doctrines.
Even worse was the fact that Balmes himself did not seem to have direct knowledge of the
texts of the philosophers he criticized. Reflecting on this medieval experience of second-
hand readings, Unamuno learnt then the importance of faithful translations and direct
contact with the texts themselves. Possibly his love for languages and his yearning for
reading writers in the original came from this experience with Balmes (106).
Nonetheless, Unamuno did discover a reality by studying Balmes‘ interpretation of Hegel.
Though Balmes was superficial, merely skimping the surface of Hegel, out of these readings
came pulp, ―de ellas brotó pulpa‖ (106).