Contemporary uncertainty about faith finds its roots in the nineteenth century. The first chapter of this book indicates how philosophical, ethical, scientific, literary, historical, and democratic developments during that century brought about a fundamental crisis for faith. This crisis was reflected in Newman's attempts, both as an Anglican and as a Roman Catholic, to understand the nature of faith and of its certainty. A survey of Newman's intellectual background and of his discussions of the problem of faith, in unpublished as well as published writings up to 1870, is followed by a searching analysis of his definitive study of faith, The Grammar of Assent. This analysis shows that, in spite of certain criticisms, Newman provides a way of understanding the assent of faith that is of major importance today. This study of Newman, which is fully annotated, is both a historical study and a contribution to the contemporary theological debate about faith. David A. Pailin was born in 1936. At the age of eighteen he went to Trinity College, Cambridge. He continued his education at Perkins School of Theology in the Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, reading Modern Philosophical Theology. From 1961 to 1966 he was minister at Romiley Methodist Church. He is now Lecturer in the Philosophy of Religion in the University of Manchester.
