Newman and Gadamer

Thomas K. Carr examines the religious epistemology of John Henry Newman alongside the philosophical hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer. The two writers are found to cover a surprising amount of common ground: They make similar claims and they fall into similar errors. A critical examination of four of Newman''s leading ideas -- first principles antecedent probability doctrinal development and the illative sense -- are compared with such Gadamerian themes as self-understanding Bildung projection tradition and the fusion of horizons. Carr concludes with a constructive proposal that applies a Newman-Gadamer synthesis to questions about knowledge of God.