KER, Ian (Turnbull)

PERSONAL: Male. Religion: Roman Catholic.

ADDRESSES: Offıce—University of Oxford, University Offices, Wellington Square, Oxford, OX1 2JD, England. E-mail—ian.ker@theology.ox.ac.uk; ian. ker@campion.ox.ac.uk.

CAREER: Catholic priest, author, and educator. Oxford University, Oxford, England, professor of lecture series on John Henry Newman.

WRITINGS:

John Henry Newman: A Biography, Clarendon (Oxford, England), 1988.

(Author of foreword) John Henry Cardinal Newman, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 1989.

The Achievement of John Henry Newman, University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 1990.

Newman on Being a Christian, University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 1990.

Healing the Wound of Humanity: The Spirituality of John Henry Newman, Darton, Longman & Todd (London, England), 1993.

The Catholic Revival in English Literature, 1845-1961: Newman, Hopkins, Belloc, Chesterton, Greene, Waugh, University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 2003.

EDITOR

(And author of introduction and notes) John Henry Newman, The Idea of a University: Defined and Illustrated, Clarendon (Oxford, England), 1976.

(And author of introduction and notes) John Henry Newman, An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1985.

(And author of introduction) The Genius of John Henry Newman: Selections from His Writings, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1989.

(With Alan G. Hill) Newman after a Hundred Years, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1990.

Newman the Theologian, University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 1990.

Apologia pro vita sua, Penguin Books (New York, NY), 1994.

(And author of introduction) Selected Sermons: John Henry Newman, preface by Henry Chadwick, Paulist Press (New York, NY), 1994.

Newman and Conversion, University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 1997.

(With Terrence Merrigan; and contributor) Newman and the Word, W. B. Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 2000.

(With Terrence Merrigan) Oxford International Newman Conference (3rd: 2001: Keeble College, University of Oxford), W. B. Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS: Roman Catholic priest and Oxford University professor Ian Ker has focused much of his writing and editing career on the life and works of John Henry Newman, one of the most celebrated Catholic priests and theologians of the nineteenth century. Newman gained fame for his authorship of the Apologia, considered a masterpiece of religious autobiography. He would go on to write numerous books and sermons and remains one of the most discussed thinkers in the Catholic Church, eliciting strong responses from both his detractors and his admirers. Ker bases his 1989 book John Henry Newman: A Biography, almost entirely on Newman's own writings and the works of Father Dessain, who wrote many articles and other works about Newman. Commonweal contributor Peter Steinfels wrote that the biography "provides sensitive insights into Newman's personality and helpful analyses of his thinking and writing." In the Economist, a reviewer noted, "Ker has . . . written a book that is excellent, timely, comprehensive and fair." Writing in the Spectator, Robert Gray called Ker's biography of Newman "a primary authority, in every sense" and "very much an intellectual and literary biography." Gray also commented that "Professor Ker's prose is unobtrusive, clear and easy to read."

Ker has also edited numerous books on Newman, including Newman the Theologian and Selected Sermons: John Henry Newman. Nicholas Sagovsky, writing in the Journal of Ecclesiastical History, noted that Ker's "editorial approach" to Selected Sermons "gives to his selection a kind of timeless consistency in which historical and contextual issues sink below the horizon." In Newman and Conversion, published in 1997, Ker gathers together eight papers focusing primarily on Newman's conversion to Catholicism. The papers were originally delivered at an international conference celebrating the 150th anniversary of Newman's reception into the Catholic Church.

Ker also served as coeditor of Newman and the Word. This collection of papers comes from the proceedings of the second Oxford International Newman Conference held at Oriel College in 1998. Newman and the Word includes a paper by Ker on "those who hear and attest the Word, the 'people of God' who read and live the Scripture," according to Gerard Loughlin in a Journal of Ecclesiastical History review.

In The Catholic Revival in English Literature, 1845-1961: Newman, Hopkins, Belloc, Chesterton, Greene, Waugh Ker discusses not only Newman and his works, but also works of five other writers—Gerard Manley Hopkins, Hilaire Belloc, G.K. Chesterton, Graham Greene, and Evelyn Waugh—whose Catholicism played a central role in their life and writings. According to Francis Phillips in a review on the Theotokos Catholic Books Web page, Ker "ably communicates his love, knowledge and understanding of these distinctive Catholic 'voices' and his carefully selected quotations serve to stimulate a reading or re-reading of the whole text to which he refers." Phillips concluded: "It is Ker's achievement to demonstrate the subtle links between these writers and to illuminate for the reader how Catholicism . . . can be a profound creative stimulus and not the strait-jacket that some would have us believe."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Commonweal, December 7, 1990, Peter Steinfels, review of John Henry Newman: A Biography, p. 727.

Economist, April 1, 1989, review of John Henry Newman: A Biography, p. 81.

Journal of Ecclesiastical History, July, 1995, Nicholas Sagovsky, review of Selected Sermons: John Henry Newman, p. 537; July, 1998, David Newsome, review of Newman and Conversion, p. 585; July, 2003, Gerard Loughlin, review of Newman and the Word, p. 600.

Spectator, January 28, 1989, Robert Gray, review of John Henry Newman: A Biography, p. 27.

ONLINE

Theotokos Catholic Books Web site,http://www.theotokos.org.uk/ (September 28, 2004), Francis Phillips, review of The Catholic Revival in English Literature, 1845-1961: Newman, Hopkins, Belloc, Chesterton, Greene, Waugh.*