Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 3, Nos. 2 &3, 2004, Page 42
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:
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:
