Remarks on Certain Passages in the Thirty-Nine Articles, better known as Tract 90, was a theological pamphlet written by the English theologian and churchman John Henry Newman and published in 1841. It is the most famous and the most controversial of the Tracts for the Times

Tracts for the Times

The Tracts for the Times were a series of 90 theological publications, varying in length from a few pages to book-length, produced by members of the English Oxford Movement, an Anglo-Catholic revival group, from 1833 to 1841...

produced by the first generation of the Anglo-Catholic Oxford Movement

Oxford Movement

The Oxford Movement was a movement of High Church Anglicans, eventually developing into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose members were often associated with the University of Oxford, argued for the reinstatement of lost Christian traditions of faith and their inclusion into Anglican liturgy...

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In Tract 90, Newman engaged in a detailed examination of the 39 Articles, suggesting that the negations of the 39 Articles (a key doctrinal standard for the Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

) were not directed against the authorized creed of Roman Catholics, but only against popular errors and exaggerations. Newman's reasoning had predecessors in the writings of Francis a Sancta Clara and William Palmer

William Palmer (theologian)

Sir William Palmer was an Anglican theologian and liturgical scholar of the 19th century.The Rev., afterwards Sir, William Palmer, Bart., of Worcester College, University of Oxford, was author of the Origines Liturgicæ and Treatise on the Church of Christ...

 [M], although Newman claimed to have been ignorant of Palmer's contemporary treatise In XXXIX Articulos.

The purpose of Tract 90, in common with so many others in the series, was to establish the contention that the fundamental ecclesiological

Ecclesiology

Today, ecclesiology usually refers to the theological study of the Christian church. However when the word was coined in the late 1830s, it was defined as the science of the building and decoration of churches and it is still, though rarely, used in this sense.In its theological sense, ecclesiology...

 identity of the Church of England was Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 rather than Protestant.

Its author John Henry Newman, a major figure in the Anglo-Catholic movement in Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

, later changed his position, finding the tenets of the Oxford Movement

Oxford Movement

The Oxford Movement was a movement of High Church Anglicans, eventually developing into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose members were often associated with the University of Oxford, argued for the reinstatement of lost Christian traditions of faith and their inclusion into Anglican liturgy...

 untenable, and converted to the Roman Catholic faith where he was later elevated to Cardinal

Cardinal (Catholicism)

A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...

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Tract 90 is divided into the following sections:

• Introduction.
• 1. Holy Scripture and the Authority of the Church.
• 2. Justification by Faith only.
• 3. Works before and after Justification.
• 4. The Visible Church.
• 5. General Councils.
• 6. Purgatory, Pardons, Images, Relics, Invocation of Saints.
• 7. The Sacraments.
• 8. Transubstantiation.
• 9. Masses.
• 10. Marriage of Clergy.
• 11. The Homilies.
• 12. The Bishop of Rome.
• Conclusion.

External links

• The full text of Tract 90
• An Examination of No. 90 of the Tracts for the Times, by Frederick Beasley (1842)