The Newman Option

What Is The Newman Option?

The Newman Option is a project dedicated to the restoration of Christendom through the restoration of the pride of place of the Catholic Church in Western Civilization. This restoration will be attempted in 3 main ways:

1. Street Apologetics with non-Christians for the truth of Christianity

2. Street Apologetics with non-Catholics for the truth of Catholicism

3. Street Advice and Criticism of Catholics, both lay and ecclesiastical

Why The Newman Option?

The Newman Option takes as its model St. John Henry Newman, the most famous convert to Catholicism during the England’s Oxford movement, and my patron saint.

The Oxford movement was essentially an attempt in the 19th Century to return the Church of England to its theological roots. This is where the famous “Branch Theory of Christianity” - that different Christian communions form different branches on the Christian tree - comes from. As Newman came to see, the theory is ultimately untenable, and “to be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant.”

I was raised Methodist (perhaps best described as low church Anglicanism, or high church Baptist) and have been a Christian my whole life. Like Newman, I experienced my conversion to Catholicism not as a rejection of the faith in which I was raised, but as a continuation and deepening of that faith. I have deep affection for my Methodist roots, and very much feel the pain of separation of Protestants from the Catholic Church.

What is Newman’s importance for today? Catholicism had been illegal for centuries in England, but with the conversion of Newman, Catholicism began to be intellectually respectable once again in the English speaking world. In today’s era of both religious freedom and the Internet, I believe all the information and arguments are out there for any Christian with access to the Internet to discover the truth of the Catholic faith.

This of course does not mean that all will. The intellect of man is darkened and his will is weakened. Everyone has his or her own personal difficulties and intellectual blocks to overcome. But The Newman Option takes the position that many Christians can and will return to the Catholic Church. Indeed, the Christian groups that do not ultimately return to the Catholic Church will dwindle in size and find it difficult not to stray away from Christian faith and morals in this new secular age. After all, apart from Christ we can do nothing. If the Church is Christ’s body, then those who reject the Body will be like the branches that wither apart from the Vine.

Who Is The Newman Option For?

For non-Christians, feel free to engage with anything written here. Christianity cannot be proved by Reason alone - Faith is required. That might seem like bs, but if it could be proved by Reason alone then God would have taken away your Freedom to reject Him. You can’t really choose not to believe in gravity, which is empirically demonstrable. The Newman Option aims to show that you can, however, and should, reasonably choose to believe in Christianity.

For Christian non-Catholics, feel free to engage with anything written here as well. To you, as hinted at above, The Newman Option presents the following proposition: while Christianity cannot be proved by Reason alone, in my view, for the Christian who has Faith, the proposition “The Catholic Church is the One True Church” is, in fact, objectively provable by Reason alone. This is the claim of The Newman Option.

Finally, for Catholics, hopefully this manual can strengthen your faith and help in your engagement with non-Catholics. And perhaps the advice and critiques will make you think.

How Will The Newman Option Work? - Catholic Street Apologetics

The Newman Option isn’t dedicated to coming up with rigorous arguments. That has mostly already been done, and I have little to contribute.

Very little of The Newman Option will be original or new. The purpose is not discussing the news or repeating commentary that has already been better said by others.

Rather, the Newman Option is dedicated to:

• Compiling the best arguments for the Catholic Faith

• Finding new and succinct ways to organize and present these arguments

• Spreading them around among Catholics and non-Catholics

• Providing concrete and and actionable critiques of the Church

Think of The Newman Option as a personal street manual of the arguments for Catholicism that I find the most persuasive, that you could share with a friend over beer, tea, or a cigar.

The purpose is to unite Christians and to begin to forge a common front against the enemies of Christ, the Church, and Christendom in the post-Christian West. Our enemies (whom we love) are increasing in power and united under the Prince of this World (Satan). Therefore Christians too need to once again unite.

And that can only be done under Christ’s Catholic Church.

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