John Henry Newman

Lawrence Cunningham's exquisite Heart Speaks to Heart will whet your appetite and enrich your taste for Newman's spiritual texts.

Newman's approach to the Christian life, with its insistent claim that Christian perfection derives from doing the ordinary in an extraordinary fashion, is as pertinent today as it was when he delivered his Sermons in the first half of the nineteenth century. Along with the well known prayers and hymns that have reached the status of classics, this anthology includes short selections from Newman's lesser known devotional writings, his prayers in honor of the blessed Virgin Mary and the saints, and longer excerpts from his Parochial and Plain Sermons, reflecting both his Anglican and Roman Catholic period. Cunningham's introduction explores Newman's life and spirituality.

Cunningham reveals Newman as an apostle in advance of Vatican II's universal call to holiness. This collection of Newman's spiritual gems is a vademecum that I shall prize and consult for a long time. (Keith J. Egan, Adjunct Professor of Theology at Notre Dame University) Larry Cunninghams fine selection of Newmans spiritual writings makes a wonderful text for a prayerful and meditative reading based on the great treasury of Catholic devotion, while his concise introduction to Newmans life and spirituality presents him as a surprisingly contemporary guide.

(Rev. Thomas P. Rausch, S.J. T. Marie Chilton Professor of Catholic Theology Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles)