After brief analyses of (1) Newman’s view of knowledge, (2) his view of science, (3) his view of theology as a science, (4) the primacy of the philosophical habit of mind, and (5) the inherent tension within the scientific community, this article relates Newman’s thought to the twenty-first century, particularly the Second Vatican Council’s Gaudium et Spes (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the World of Today).

This essay argues that Newman’s theology of justification is a true via media between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism because of its Trinitarian character. While conceding that Newman misunderstood Luther’s theology of justification, this essay explores Newman’s theology of justification through Christ’s divine indwelling in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the formal cause of the soul’s justice, because through the Spirit, both Christ’s alien righteousness and an actual inherent righteousness are brought to the soul.Accordingly, justification is a Trinitarian action (...) of “the two hands of God.”. (shrink)