The Idea of a University [Paperback]

Cardinal John Henry Newman (Author), Roman Catholic Church (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2006

No man was ever better qualified to write such a book as The Life of a University than Cardinal Newman was. And the subject has never been more pressing than it is today. In this classic, Newman poses a number of important questions: What is the purpose of education? What does it mean to be educated? What is the role of a university? What is the relationship between learning and the life of a society? And where does Catholicism fit in? The issues Newman examined with incomparable insight continue to be relevant today, one hundred and fifty years after it was first published. This book has been recognized as probably the greatest of its kind, and no one interested in the relationship between religion, learning, culture and politics can afford to neglect it.

Product Details

• Paperback: 440 pages
• Publisher: Baronius Press Ltd; 1st Edition edition (September 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1905574193
• ISBN-13: 978-1905574193
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,477,185 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

86 of 90 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This is NOT Newman's IDEA OF A UNIVERSITY!, April 15, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Idea of a University (Rethinking the Western Tradition) (Paperback)

Unfortunately, this Yale edition leaves out about half of what Newman himself published in 1873 as the definitive edition of THE IDEA OF A UNIVERSITY. Published here are only the nine "Dublin Discourses" from Part I on "University Teaching" and but four of the ten chapters of Part II, "University Subjects Discussed in Occasional Lectures and Essays." For the hundred-page displacement of Newman's essays, the editor substitutes five interpretive essays supposedly inquiring into the relevance of Newman's book for today's higher education debates. These interpretive essays have major inconsistencies and repetitions among themselves and are of mixed quality, with inaccuracies and serious misunderstandings of some of Newman's central ideas. As accurate forays of the Newmanian mind into the twentieth- and twenty-first century university, only the engaging and intellectually challenging essays by George Marsden and George Landow succeed. (COMPLETE paperback editions of Newman's IDEA are available from Loyola University Press, 1987, and University of Notre Dame Press, 1982).

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful presentation of of a classic work., December 17, 1997

By 

Edward Peters - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Idea of a University (Rethinking the Western Tradition) (Hardcover)

A strong case can be made that Englishman John Henry (Cardinal) Newman reinvented the religious univeristy in the 19th century and that most such universities, regardless of their denomination, functioned quite well until the computer age. Now, with all universities being forced to rethink their own identity and mission, the values which Newman enuntiated for them over 100 years ago will return to guide their reinvention in our own day. Or, they can return, if they are given the chance. Yale University is to be commended for putting Newman's ideas on the university back on the table in such a splendid format. Every aspect of this work deserves praise, from the editor's introduction and special footnotes, to the analytical essays which merit a careful reading in their own right. I did a complete review of this excellent work in "National Catholic Register" 9-15 Feb. 1997, p. 6. I recommend this book highly for this who need to understand and apply Newman's vision of the university.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A little clarification., May 21, 2007

By 

Himself (Cupertino, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Idea of a University (Paperback)

A review currently listed for this book pertains to "this Yale edition" and says it leaves out "about half" of what Newman published. However, Amazon indicates that the publisher is "Gateway Editions." The copy that Amazon shipped to me (which matches the picture of the book) indicates "Regnery Publishing" as the publisher. Moreover, it appears to leave out nothing.

Having verified, from the Table of Contents on line, that all of the parts were present, I purchased this edition in hopes that it might contain some comments or analysis that would add to the understanding that I received from reading the Notre Dame Press edition (Martin J. Svaglic author), with its excellent notes and commentaries. (Otherwise, why would reviewers recommend it?) My anticipation was rewarded by an interesting seven-page introduction.

However, the endnotes by Svaglic are of such great value in understanding the Newman's references to then-present and past events and authors and even in translating some of his Latin that I greatly prefer that edition. For that reason, in comparison, I witheld one star.