Newman and Pattison: The Predicament of a Secularized University

Abstract

This article considers the life and ideas of Mark Pattison, a Tractarian turned liberal, in such a way as to throw a sidelight on the purport of John Henry Newman's discussion of university education. Both Newman and Pattison formed their ideas of university education in response to situations in Oxford in the nineteenth century, where the work of creating a “modern” university was under way. One of the focal questions that preoccupied the academics of the period was that of the bearing of intellectual and religious education on each other, with Newman as the chief exponent of a system that combines the two as one whole. But with the time lag between them and the conscious reaction on Pattison's part, there arose a large discrepancy of opinion between the two thinkers. Pattison on principle opted for an entirely secular education, which involved the exclusion of theology from the curriculum. But this also left him with an indissoluble sense of dissatisfaction, which triggered an endless succession of denials of his former position. The case of Pattison thus provides us with a concrete example of the departure from Newman's norm and its awkward consequences, testifying to the relevance of his idea of a university.