{"product_id":"an-essay-in-aid-of-a-grammar-of-assent","title":"An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent","description":"\u003cp\u003eBy Saint John Henry Newman | \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eIntroduction by Étienne Gilson\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eBelief and experience: \u003c\/b\u003ethese realities are necessary for the continuation of life. In an age deeply scored by empiricism, materialism, and skepticism—as were the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries—it is belief which comes under close scrutiny; under the harsh light of new scientific standards and methods, belief—the assent to mystery—is interrogated, its legitimacy as a rational exercise contested, its standing as a faculty of human nature dismissed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eWidely considered Newman’s most important work and a pivotal text in the philosophy of faith, \u003ci\u003eAn Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent \u003c\/i\u003eis a challenging and technically elaborate apologia for belief—the means by which men and women come to believe in God, to freely assent to propositions which they do not or cannot fully understand and to propositions for which there is not absolute empirical proof. In the words of Martin Cyril D’Arcy, S.J., \u003ci\u003eA Grammar of Assent\u003c\/i\u003e “remains the masterpiece which no one can safely neglect” on the subject of belief and intellectual assent.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px;\" class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eCan I believe as if I saw? … How can I assent as if I saw, unless I have seen? But no one in this life can see God. Yet I conceive a real assent is possible, and I proceed to show how. \u003c\/em\u003e(\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eSaint John Henry Newman)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eFirst published in 1870, the fruit of twenty years’ labor, and re-issued here with the 1955 Introduction by renowned French Catholic philosopher Étienne Gilson, \u003ci\u003eAn Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent \u003c\/i\u003eis a text of profound significance and singular import for those seeking to plumb the mysterious depths of man’s rational power to believe.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eJohn Henry Newman \u003c\/b\u003e(1801–1890) had a notable career at Oxford University and was an Anglican priest before becoming a Roman Catholic in 1845 and a Catholic priest in 1847. A prolific author and preacher, he also founded Oratory houses and served as rector of the Catholic University of Ireland. In 2019, he was canonized a saint of the Catholic Church.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\" class=\"p1\"\u003e* * *\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePaperback:\u003c\/strong\u003e 376pp.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 978-1685954659\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cluny Media","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44794799292551,"sku":"978-1685954659","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0707\/1082\/0999\/files\/ProductImages_5.5x8.5--15475.jpg?v=1780659821","url":"https:\/\/bings.shop\/products\/an-essay-in-aid-of-a-grammar-of-assent","provider":"BINGS","version":"1.0","type":"link"}