Augustine's autobiographical spiritual account — narrating his early life, intellectual journey through Manichaeism and Neoplatonism, conversion to Christianity, and theological reflection — the first autobiography in Western literature and the foundational document of confessional self-examination.
Creates the Western autobiographical form — the Confessions' direct address to God (rather than to a human reader), its psychological self-analysis, and its narrative of intellectual and moral conversion established the template for the Western autobiography and for confession as a spiritual practice.
No recorded contemporaries.
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