For the first time, the majority of John Henry Cardinal Newman’s contributions to the ground-breaking series Tracts for the Times have been collected in one volume, with an introduction and notes supplied by James Tolhurst. The Tracts for the Times will always be connected with the Oxford Movement. John Henry Newman and other leaders of the movement sought a renewal of “catholic,” or Roman Catholic, thought and practice within the Church of England. They published their ideas on the theological, pastoral, and devotional problems that they perceived within the church in ninety "Tracts for the Times" (1833-1841). Newman, who edited the series, either wrote or compiled a third of the tracts. Increasingly, the tracts were expanded into treatises—especially after Tract 36—and were often composed of quotations from patristic writers and the English Divines. Tracts 83 and 85 are included in Discussions and Arguments on Various Subjects, volume VII of the Birmingham Oratory Millennium Edition of his works. Tracts 74, 76, and 88 have been omitted here. In Tract 75, the introductory explanation of the breviary has been included.

These remarkable sermons by John Henry Newman (1801-1890) were first published at Oxford in 1843, two years before he was received into the Roman Catholic Church. Published here in its entirety is the third edition of 1872 for which Newman added an additional sermon, bracketed notes, and, importantly, a comprehensive, condensed Preface. In her introduction, noted Newman scholar Mary Katherine Tillman considers the volume as an integral whole, showing how all of the sermons systematically relate to the central theme of the faith-reason relationship.

"And now after reading these Sermons I must say I think they are, as a whole, the best things I have written." --John Henry Newman
These remarkable sermons by John Henry Newman (1801-1890) were first published at Oxford in 1843, two years before he was received into the Roman Catholic Church. Published here in its entirety is the third edition of 1872 for which Newman added an additional sermon, bracketed notes, and, importantly, a comprehensive, condensed Preface. More accessible to the beginning Newman reader than the "Grammar of Assent," these highly original sermons are "of the nature of an exploring expedition into an all but unknown country," says Newman; for they were written "with no aid from Anglican, and no knowledge of Catholic theologians." Often overlooked these early sermons provide indispensable insights and clues about the leading ideas of his later well-known works.