John Henry Newman is known for many things but notable among them was his treatment of the development of doctrine and his call for an educated laity. These themes remain with us today as we battle to make sense of developments in the Church and in the world. Perhaps underpinning all that he lived and wrote was Newman’s emphasis on conscience. The century in which he lived was a bridge when people finally crossed from a world of exterior authority – whether in Church or state – to one where they tested in earnest the resonance – or lack of it – between that authority and their own experience.