The first comprehensive biography of the great religious leader John Henry Newman (1801-90), this compelling and well-written volume draws on a number of published and unpublished sources to examine his extraordinarily varied life and career. Ker stresses the complexity of Newman's character and the range of his achievement as major prose writer, dominant religious leader who anticipated the Second Vatican Council and the modern ecumenical movement, and universal Christian thinker, whose significance transcends his culture and time.