Apologia pro vita sua Author:John Henry Cardinal Newman Apologia pro vita sua is unquestionably one of the great literary and spiritual classics of all time. In it one of the finest masters of the English language tells in majestic and eloquent prose the story of his change of religious opinions from his first childhood experiences until finally, after years of study and deliberation, all doubts res... more »olved, "in perfect peace and contentment, he entered "the one Fold of Christ", the Catholic Church.
Such was its force and power that men of every religious persuasion have acknowledged this dynamic account of spiritual conversion as an extraordinary record of self-revelation and as a superb piece of controversial writing. Its sheer power of style, its remarkable absence of pose, its simple dignity as it reveals the intimate self of a very sensitive and reserved man, its almost unrivalled logical powers, the meticulous care for accuracy all played a part in the creation of this "masterpiece of autobiography and a powerful defence of Catholicism".
Cardinal Newman was a thinker of the first rank who, as a noted journal put it, "has influenced the course of English thought more perhaps than any of his contemporaries". His superb intellectual gifts made the Apologia one of the most influential religious books of our Western civilization and the greatest autobiography in the English language.« less