Against the Stream

Apologia: A Memoir by Aidan Nichols

Aidan Nichols is surely dean of the guild of publishing Roman Catholic theologians in Great Britain, with many book titles and much scholarly achievement to his credit. Having reached his mid-seventies, one would expect the familiar Cambridge Dominican to be basking in a glow of merited affection and honor, but a modest volume of respectful questioning of the direction of the Bergoglio pontificate on his part has prompted his transfer from the Dominican to the Premonstratensian Order, rendered him of no fixed abode, and thrown obstacles in the way of his carrying out his vocation as priest, religious, and teacher of theology.

As he remains in the throes of an unanticipated season of tumult in his old age (“If you want a quiet life, do not get involved with God, Gospel, and Church!”, 143), Nichols has happily emerged from a period of imposed silence with the release of an autobiographical memoir that carries a whiff of the Apologia produced by his hero, John Henry Newman, in response to Charles Kingsley’s blistering attack on his personal integrity.

THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:


John R. Stephenson taught at Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary, St Catharines, Ontario, for 34 years, until his retirement at the end of 2022.

Print &
Online Subscription

Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!

Online
Subscription

Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!

bulk subscriptions

Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.

Transactions will be processed on a secure server.


more from the online archives

28.6—Nov/Dec 2015

Our Christmas Home

on the Deepest Longings of the Restless & the Lonely by William Graddy

27.4—July/August 2014

The Things Freely Given

The Bible, Sacred Theology & the Mind of Christ by Patrick Henry Reardon

30.4—July/Aug 2017

Soul Comforter

on Emily Dickinson & the Source of Our Hope by Josh Mayo

calling all readers

Please Donate

"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand

"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor

Support Touchstone

00