John Henry Newman was a major figure in the development of Roman Catholicism in England in the nineteenth century, and indeed he exercised a vital influence on the religious life of the nation. Newman left numerous writings about his life and his theology, and these have been influential ever since. His autobiography, Apologia pro Vita Sua, details his spiritual journey and the development of the theological thought that caused him to change his religious affiliation from the Anglican church to the Roman Catholic Church. In his autobiography, Cardinal Newman not only discusses the strength of his conversion and the nature of his spiritual shift, but also provides a strong defense of Catholicism against its critics and against those who would challenge his thought because of the conversion he underwent. Included in the work is an account of his role in the development of the Oxford Movement, a liberal, intellectual movement seeking reform from within the Anglican Church.
Philip Hughes points out that the Apologia is not a history of the Oxford Movement. He also states that it is not to be taken as the story of Newman's life with God. The full title of the work includes the subtitle being a History of his Religious Opinions, and it is not an apology for those views in spite of the way we use the word "apology" today. It is instead one man's own story of his change of mind.
Jean HonorT cites John Henry Newman to the effect that many people who need to understand themselves and to explain their destiny return again and again to the mystery of their childhood and notes that Newman was such a person:
All his life, which was long, he remained faithful to the memory of his earliest years. Without doubt, because he lived them intensely, which is a child's privilege, always ready for wonder, wholly and entirely attentive to the call of everything around him, he discovered himself while discovering the world. Newman, the ad...