John Henry Newman (1801-90) was brought up in the Church of England in the Evangelical tradition. An Oxford graduate and Fellow of Oriel College, he was appointed Vicar of St Mary's Oxford in 1828; from 1839 onwards he began to have doubts about the claims of the Anglican Church and in 1845 he was received into the Roman Catholic Church. He was made a Cardinal in 1879. His influence on both the restoration of Roman Catholicism in England and the advance of Catholic ideas in the Church of England was profound. Volume VIII covers a turbulent period in Newman's life with the publication of Tract 90. His attempt to show the compatibility of the 39 Articles with Catholic doctrine caused a storm both in the University of Oxford and in the Church. He and others were horrified by the establishment of a joint Anglo-Prussian Bishopric in Jerusalem, considering it an attempt to give Apostolical succession to an heretical church. In 1842 he moved away from the hubbub of Oxford life to nearby Littlemore.

John Henry Newman (1801-90) was brought up in the Church of England in the Evangelical tradition. An Oxford graduate and Fellow of Oriel College, he was appointed Vicar of St Mary's, Oxford in 1828; from 1839 onwards he began to have doubts about the claims of the Anglican Church and in 1845 he was received into the Roman Catholic Church. He was made a Cardinal in 1879. His influence on both the restoration of Roman Catholicism in England and the advance of Catholicideas in the Church of England was profound. Volume VIII of the Letters and Diaries covers a turbulent period in his life with the publication of his Tract 90, his opposition to the establishment of the joint Anglo-Prussian Bishopric at Jerusalem, against a background of continuing acrimony inUniversity affairs.

This volume, like its predecessors, is meticulously edited and annotated and carries forward in a fascinating way Newman's personal religious pilgrimage as well as providing rich resources for a wider understanding of the Oxford Movement. Both publisher and editor are to be congratulated on this latest volume