Newman's idea of the development of doctrine implies neither a romanticization of the past nor a kind of cozy modernism, but neither is it an arbitrary "middle way."
There is frequent speculation among Christian believers as to whether the faith held by a church or denomination accurately captures what Christ handed on to His apostles. Some would say that Christianity should precisely mimic the faith and practices of the earliest believers. Others say that Christianity is flexible, and should adapt itself to meet the needs and challenges of each age. Within these extreme interpretations, John Henry Newman articulated how Christianity can properly maintain its apostolic roots, while allowing for growth to meet the needs of the contemporary Church.
In examining the apostolic roots and traditions held within Anglicanism, Newman pondered how Christianity can be expressed accurately within the nineteenth century, and if there was one particular expression of Christianity that is authentic to the original Church. For many years as an Anglican cleric and professor, he thought the Church of England fulfilled this expression, believing that Protestants and Roman Catholics had diverted from the true teachings of Christ. For him, Anglicanism provided a middle way, known as the Via Media, which maintained apostolic roots and did not permit modern innovations.
Yet as Newman continued to explore the claimed roots of Anglicanism along with the writings of the Church Fathers, he found it increasingly difficult to support its claims. It was not clear that the Thirty-Nine Anglican Articles of Religion could properly trace their lineage from the teachings of the early Church Fathers, through the Middle Ages, and into Victorian England. As his study took him deeper into history, he began to understand the organic nature of development and how authentic life reveals new aspects while maintaining its original essence. In this exploration, he came to discover that Roman Catholicism captures a natural development most fully in its expressed beliefs, and allows for the teachings of the Apostles to grow and flourish as time unfolds.
To articulate how doctrine grows organically, Newman offered seven principles by which authentic development can be recognized. He was careful to point out that beliefs and practices can slip into corruptions very easily. Thus one must distinguish carefully what is a logical development, and what has cut itself off from its own past and wandered into error.
For a starting principle, Newman noted that true development must include a preservation of the original type. As seen in the world of biology, a bird does not grow into a fish. And within religious beliefs, there must be a continuity of what was originally held in its internal essence, beyond any external developments that may appear. Secondly, Newman wrote that there must be a continuity of principles within true development. For the guiding principles that ground belief and customs must be the same within every era of the Church.
Thirdly, Newman understood that true development includes a power of assimilation. In this, he realized that a real proof of life is that which can incorporate into itself aspects of truth that build cumulatively. While on the other hand, he realized that corruptions do not incorporate truth in a synthetic way, but divide and cast aside various expressions of belief and practice. With this power of assimilation, Newman recognized that the process of incorporation must include a fourth note: the reality of logical sequence. For as truths are unpacked and comprehended in a deepening manner, such truths must flow logically one from the next and cannot be held with various contradictions.
A fifth distinguishing characteristic of true development includes the ability to anticipate the future. A true expression of Christianity must have an ability to adapt to changing circumstances and give way to human realities that do not stifle faith, but offer deeper expressions of belief. This anticipation of the future does not need to contradict the past, but can prompt further development as a springboard to what is required in each period of the Church’s life. The conservation of the past, while giving room for future growth, is a sixth note of true development for Newman.
Lastly, Newman described the seventh characteristic as chronic vigor, in that true development must always bear fruit in changing seasons and new environmental factors. A Christian faith that expresses this vitality will be known by what it produces, while corruptions and inauthentic alterations will slowly die, despite their initial enthusiasm or novel appearance.
With these characteristics, Newman provided the principles to understand how contemporary Christianity stems from the faith of the original disciples. Such faith today may not look exactly as the earliest expressions did within the Mediterranean world of the Roman Empire. Yet the authentic faith of today has brought to light what was always latent within the early Church as is grows in its fullness. Such a description allows us to see how a healthy and organic development of doctrine is needed with Christianity, which does not wander off into error or superstition.
