The Oxford Handbook of John Henry Newman ,

John Henry Newman has reached a new pinnacle of his career with his canonization by Pope Francis on October 13, 2019. These books allow us to see how Newman cultivated “the beauty of holiness” from his early youth in steady, intense theological reflection, putting his own personality and biography at the center of his evangelical effort, and eventually becoming a radiant icon for the Church of England and for the Roman Catholic world. A key moment was the publication of the Apologia in 1864, which established him as a beloved, serene Eminent Victorian, dispelling the mockery of the failing “muscular Christians” and the hostility of many former coreligionists he had bruised on his path to Rome. The Oxford Handbook shows how deeply his holiness was indebted to the Evangelical sources his mature church identity covered over: the letters show that sanctity is compatible with thorniness in family and collegial relationships, and Gracewing's annotated reeditions of his works show how sedulously he retrieved and rewrote his earlier literary output. Together they offer a repristinated image of Newman, illuminating in depth his place in intellectual and ecumenical history. Above all, they may herald a new emergence of Newman as theologian, released from the excessive focus on his biography.