Autobiography, Trauma, Testimony, and Confession Although the Christian gospel is supposed to be a message of redemption, compassion, hope, and love, Western spiritual autobiography is rife with trauma. Christian conversion requires, many claim, destruction of the ego so the soul is open to grace, arguably a traumatic experience, however redemptive its ultimate effects. Narratives recounting the trauma of conversion (or deconversion) can replicate the trauma, first through writing about it, then through reading about it. What does this mean to LDS readers and writers? How can the history of autobiography, current trauma theory, and tropes of confession and testimony provide insight into spiritual autobiography in general and LDS autobiography in particular?

Holly Welker, Laura L. Bush