Henry Wansbrough is a monk of Ampleforth. He has been Chairman of the Faculty of Theology at Oxford University, and served on the Pope’s Biblical Commission for eleven years. He is General Editor of The New Jerusalem Bible, and has written a number of books on biblical subjects.

In this year when we are awaiting the beatification of Cardinal Newman it is appropriate to reflect on his contributions to scripture scholarship. He was, of course, primarily a patristic rather than a scripture scholar. However, despite a difficulty in reading German, it is striking to see from his Oxford lectures how familiar he was with the innovative German biblical scholarship of the day. Nevertheless, at least two of his important contributions remain interesting and relevant at the present day, namely his views on the interrelationship of scripture and tradition, and his reflections on the inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible. The former nexus of questions has its focus during the period when Newman was working his way towards the Catholic Church, the latter when he was already within it.

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