Sermon Blog
Implicit and Explicit Reason
February 1, 2025
Hi – I am Ron Snyder, president of the St John Henry Newman Association of America and founder of “Newman on Tap” a regular Newman discussion meeting place and podcast interviewing guests reacting to sermons of John Henry Newman. Today, I would like to offer a summary of John Henry Newman’s 13th University Sermon, “Implicit and Explicit Reason.” Newman preached these sermons from 1826 to 1843 at St. Mary’s the University Church of Oxford where he served as vicar for some of that period. These sermons aim to explore and defend the relationship between faith and reason challenging religious skepticism and rationalism. Newman sets the thematic foundation of the sermon by reflecting on the first letter of Peter chapter 3; “Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear”. In this sermon, Newman emphasizes the balance between personal faith and the intellectual engagement necessary to defend it. He captures the dual call to a deep, interior sanctity and outward readiness to articulate belief, reflecting the overarching concern of the integration of faith and reason.
In St. Peter, Newman distinguishes between two modes of reasoning in matters of faith – implicit and explicit reason. Implicit reason refers to the innate, intuitive understanding of divine truths that ordinary believers possess through conscience, tradition, and trust in authority. Explicit reason, on the other hand, involves critical, analytical reflection, often employed by theologians or scholars to articulate, and defend faith. Newman argues that implicit reason is sufficient for most people to live a life of faith, while explicit reason plays a vital role in clarifying and safeguarding doctrine. Newman offers St. Peter’s faith as an example of implicit faith. He writes that
Peter’s faith “was ardent, keen, watchful, and prompt. It dispensed with argument, calculation, deliberation, and delay, whenever it heard the voice of its Lord and Savior”. Explicit reason, by contrast, has an important value in understanding and defending faith. Newman helps us see that the province of reason is to make explicit what is already implicit in our minds. Explicit reason allows believers, like St. Peter, to articulate their faith, clarify its truths and defend it against objections, particularly in intellectual and skeptical environments. Necessarily then there is an interplay between implicit and explicit reason. Newman uses St. Peter’s life as an allegory for the tension and eventual harmony between faith and reason. Highlighting this duality St. Peter offers readers both inspiration and a model for how faith can mature through intellectual inquiry. Newman writes that “though Faith is the characteristic of the Gospel, and Faith is the simple lifting of the mind to the Unseen God, without conscious reasoning or formal argument, still the mind may be allowably, nay, religiously engaged, in reflecting upon its own Faith; investigating the grounds and the Object of it, bringing it out into words, whether to defend, or recommend, or teach it to others”. Newman shows how implicit faith inspires individuals to seek understanding, while reason strengthens the trust that comes with faith. In other words, Newman is affirming that faith is not diminished but rather enriched by reflection and analysis. Newman makes a case for theology and apologetics as legitimate and necessary exercises for the faithful. However, Newman acknowledges the limits of human understanding and language when dealing with divine truths; “no analysis is subtle and delicate enough to represent adequately the state of mind under which we believe, or the subjects of belief, as they are presented to our thoughts”. This humility about the
imperfection of theological expression highlights the mystery inherent in faith. By acknowledging the finite capacity of human reason in understanding divine mysteries Newman emphasizes the role of faith in accepting truths beyond comprehension. He writes, “Almighty God has condescended to speak to us so far as human thought and language will admit, by approximations, in order to give us practical rules for our own conduct amid His infinite and eternal operations”. Some truths, like the nature of God or the mysteries of the sacraments, surpass human reason and must be accepted on faith as Newman writes, “And herein consists one great blessing of the Gospel Covenant, that in Christ’s death on the Cross, and in other parts of that all-gracious Economy, are concentrated, as it were, and so presented to us those attributes and works which fill eternity. And with a like graciousness we are also told, in human language, things concerning God Himself, concerning His Son and His Spirit, and concerning His Son’s incarnation, and the union of two natures in His One Person—truths which even a peasant holds implicitly, but which Almighty God, whether by His Apostles, or by His Church after them, has vouchsafed to bring together and methodize, and to commit to the keeping of science”.
By arguing that faith is reasonable, Newman is pointing out that faith operates on a deeper level of trust and intuition, not requiring proofs for validity. Reasoning in faith can come in the form of inquiry and argument by first, in “ascertaining the divine origin of Religion, Natural and Revealed; next, in interpreting Scripture; and thirdly, in determining points of Faith and Morals; that is, in the Evidences, Biblical Exposition, and Dogmatic Theology”. By the Evidence of Religion Newman means the systematic analysis of all the grounds on which we believe Christianity to be true. Believers then trust in God’s
authority and the Church’s teachings without necessarily needing every aspect of faith to be proven explicitly.
The Church then has a role in guiding reason by acting as a safeguard, guiding both implicit and explicit faith, ensuring believers are not misled by faulty reasoning. Newman writes that “whether God speaks only by Scripture, or by private and personal suggestion, or by the first ages, or by Tradition, or by the Church collective, or by the Church in Council, or by the Chair of Saint Peter, are questions about which Christians may differ without interfering with the principle itself, that what God has given is true”. The Church helps reconcile faith with reason, providing a framework for believers to engage in intellectual reflection without losing sight of Divine truths.
In summary Newman’s sermon harmonizes faith and reason, emphasizing their complementary roles. Implicit faith, or trust in God and the Church, forms the foundation, while explicit reasoning enriches and defends belief. The Church ensures that this relationship remains balanced, guiding believers towards truth while respecting the limits of human understanding.
