Papers by C. Michael Shea
This article offers an overview of the 19th-century Roman School, which had a major impact of Rom... more This article offers an overview of the 19th-century Roman School, which had a major impact of Roman Catholic theological discourse during the period. In addition to exploring questions of periodization, major themes, and figures of the School, the study traces the impact of this movement in subsequent eras. As a whole, the article provides an introduction to the Roman School and attempts to demonstrate that the School was no less important than more well known movements such as baroque scholasticism, Gallicanism, Jansenism, Neo-Thomism, or the Ressourcement Movement for shaping the intellectual contours of modern Catholicism.
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The present article focuses on the significance of John Henry Newman’s Roman seminary studies in ... more The present article focuses on the significance of John Henry Newman’s Roman seminary studies in 1846–7 for the development of his reflections on faith. As an Anglican, Newman envisaged faith from the conceptual binary of ‘implicit’ and ‘explicit reason’. After encountering scholastic categories on the question as a Roman Catholic neophyte, Newman came to regard his earlier approach as insufficient in accounting for the various features of faith, such as the notion of human free will. In Rome, the Jesuit professor of dogmatic theology Giovanni Perrone helped Newman to revise his earlier position. Perrone’s standard theological textbook, the Praelectiones Theologicae, defined faith as a specific type of intellectual assent. Newman regarded Perrone and his textbook as authoritatively expressing Roman Catholic orthodoxy on the question of faith, and it is during this period that one encounters Newman’s first full-scale reconsideration of his earlier views and first explicit definition of faith as an intellectual assent. Consequently, Newman’s later contributions to the problem of faith, including his magnum opus An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent (1870), owe a significant debt to this watershed period in his life.
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This is a version of a paper I gave at the Forschungskolleg Humanswissenschaften in Bad Homburg, ... more This is a version of a paper I gave at the Forschungskolleg Humanswissenschaften in Bad Homburg, Germany on 18 June 2015. The presentation deals with theoretical considerations bearing upon a project I am pursuing on history of modern ecclesiology.
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The question of Johann Adam Möhler’s influence upon John
Henry Newman’s theory of doctrinal dev... more The question of Johann Adam Möhler’s influence upon John
Henry Newman’s theory of doctrinal development provoked much speculation after the release of the latter’s 1845 Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine. Yet scholarship of the past seventy-five years has abandoned this idea, insisting upon Newman’s independence from the German theologian. The present article offers a revision of this thesis. The authors examine published and unpublished correspondences, translations of Möhler’s works in Newman’s library, patterns involved in Newman’s citation of sources, and correlations between the two men’s work that have remained unexamined. As a result of this evidence, a new picture emerges of the early evolution of Newman’s theory of development and Möhler’s place in it, beginning with 1840 correspondence shortly after the translation of Möhler’s Unity in the Church into French, and culminating in the 1845 Essay on Development. The authors argue that Möhler’s influence was not merely possible but probable, and potentially definitive in the formation of Newman’s theory of Christian doctrine in relation to history.
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This article examines the remarkably broad impact of Giovanni Perrone's Roman seminary curriculum... more This article examines the remarkably broad impact of Giovanni Perrone's Roman seminary curriculum, the Praelectiones Theologicae, upon the theological vision of the First Vatican Council. The study argues that Perrone's textbook helps to account not only for the specific doctrinal issues defined at the Council, but also for their basic coherence within a broader theological vision, which had been widely shared among 19th-century Catholics since the publication of Perrone's curriculum in the 1830s.
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Newman went to no small amount of trouble in defending his Essay on Development from possible cen... more Newman went to no small amount of trouble in defending his Essay on Development from possible censure after his conversion. Less well known is just how much he had reason to worry. John Dalgairns—Newman’s editor and French literary agent—claimed in a private letter that certain features of the Essay on Development were identical to the doctrines of Louis Bautain, a lesser-known figure that some scholars have referred to as the “French Newman.” Bautain was made to sign a series of statements on faith and reason in his home diocese of Strasbourg and then in Rome during the 1830s and ‘40s. The degree to which Bautain was officially condemned is debatable, but many theologians throughout Europe viewed his theology as heretical in spirit if not in letter, and some placed Newman into the same camp. To date, no one has explored Newman’s affinity with Bautain’s thought; nor has it received more than mere mention in scholarship regarding the reception of Newman’s Essay on Development. This project compares Newman’s views on faith and reason in the 1840s with two of Bautain’s most important and representative works, his 1835 Philosophie du Christianisme and 1839 Psychologie expérimentale. It represents a continuation of a previous article that I wrote for Newman Studies Journal in Spring 2010, and a step toward a much wider project that explores the ways contemporaries on the Continent viewed Newman’s work and the Oxford Movement. Contact me for information!
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This article analyzes the “Newman-Perrone Paper on Development” (1847), and argues that previous ... more This article analyzes the “Newman-Perrone Paper on Development” (1847), and argues that previous studies have inflated the differences between Newman and Perrone and have also neglected the influence of Johann Adam Möhler in the background to the theological exchange. The result is that the significant influence of Newman’s theory of development on Perrone’s theology and, subsequently, on the definition of the Immaculate Conception has been overlooked.
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Scholarly attention to Pierre Rousselot's writings has tended to focus upon interpreting his work... more Scholarly attention to Pierre Rousselot's writings has tended to focus upon interpreting his work systematically, with little attention paid to the thinker’s Jesuit context or experience. The current study seeks to broaden the discussion on Rousselot by reading his doctoral dissertations, ‘Pour l’histoire du problème d’amour au moyen âge’ and ‘L’Intellectualisme de Saint Thomas’ against the backdrop of Saint Ignatius’s Spiritual Exercises and the writings of two contemporary interpreters of the retreat, Fathers René de Maumigny, S.J. and Georges Longhaye, S.J., who were influential in shaping the spiritual ethos of Rousselot's community. The analysis suggests that Rousselot's Thomistic thought strongly reflects the Jesuit spiritual practice of his day. In interpreting the Spiritual Exercises, Rousselot’s community made use of the language of the soul’s faculties within a participatory framework guided by the major themes of creation, sacrifice, personal salvation, and order in the First Principle and Foundation of the Spiritual Exercises. Rousselot creatively adopted the broad contours, distinctive emphases, and language of this vision in his major and minor dissertations, which formed a unified project that determined much of the young Jesuit’s subsequent work.
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This is an inaugural lecture from Louis Bautain's Cours de philosophie, published in 1839 as part... more This is an inaugural lecture from Louis Bautain's Cours de philosophie, published in 1839 as part of his Psychologie expérimentale. While perhaps raising as many questions as answers, this lecture showcases all of the main features of Bautain's approach to religious thought.
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A version of this review will be appearing in the Catholic Historical Review in 2016.
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Teaching Portfolio by C. Michael Shea
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Drafts by C. Michael Shea
This session paper offers my first impressions of Academia's premium subscription service and how... more This session paper offers my first impressions of Academia's premium subscription service and how it might be of use to others on the site. I first describe my own research and networking activities on Academia, and continue with an overview of the site's premium features and how I see the enhancements potentially impacting my work. I finish with general observations and speculation on the types of Academia users who might find a premium subscription to be worth the investment.
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Papers by C. Michael Shea
Henry Newman’s theory of doctrinal development provoked much speculation after the release of the latter’s 1845 Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine. Yet scholarship of the past seventy-five years has abandoned this idea, insisting upon Newman’s independence from the German theologian. The present article offers a revision of this thesis. The authors examine published and unpublished correspondences, translations of Möhler’s works in Newman’s library, patterns involved in Newman’s citation of sources, and correlations between the two men’s work that have remained unexamined. As a result of this evidence, a new picture emerges of the early evolution of Newman’s theory of development and Möhler’s place in it, beginning with 1840 correspondence shortly after the translation of Möhler’s Unity in the Church into French, and culminating in the 1845 Essay on Development. The authors argue that Möhler’s influence was not merely possible but probable, and potentially definitive in the formation of Newman’s theory of Christian doctrine in relation to history.
Teaching Portfolio by C. Michael Shea
Drafts by C. Michael Shea
Henry Newman’s theory of doctrinal development provoked much speculation after the release of the latter’s 1845 Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine. Yet scholarship of the past seventy-five years has abandoned this idea, insisting upon Newman’s independence from the German theologian. The present article offers a revision of this thesis. The authors examine published and unpublished correspondences, translations of Möhler’s works in Newman’s library, patterns involved in Newman’s citation of sources, and correlations between the two men’s work that have remained unexamined. As a result of this evidence, a new picture emerges of the early evolution of Newman’s theory of development and Möhler’s place in it, beginning with 1840 correspondence shortly after the translation of Möhler’s Unity in the Church into French, and culminating in the 1845 Essay on Development. The authors argue that Möhler’s influence was not merely possible but probable, and potentially definitive in the formation of Newman’s theory of Christian doctrine in relation to history.