By Ronald K. Rittgers
The Catholic Church's claims to non secular and temporal authority relaxation on Jesus' promise within the gospels to offer Peter the keys to the dominion of heaven. within the 16th century, leaders of the German Reformation sought a basic transformation of this ''power of the keys'' as a part of their efforts to rid Church and society of alleged clerical abuses. critical to this change used to be a thoroughgoing reform of personal confession.
in contrast to different Protestants, Lutherans selected to not abolish inner most confession yet to alter it to fit their theological convictions and social wishes. In a desirable exam of this new non secular perform, Ronald Rittgers strains the improvement of Lutheran inner most confession, demonstrating the way it continually balanced competing issues for non secular freedom and ethical self-discipline. The reformation of non-public confession was once a part of a miles better reformation of the ability of the keys that had profound implications for using non secular authority in sixteenth-century Germany.
because the first full-length learn of the position of Lutheran deepest confession within the German Reformation, this ebook is a welcome contribution to early glossy eu and spiritual historical past.
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Additional info for The Reformation of the Keys: Confession, Conscience, and Authority in Sixteenth-Century Germany
Example text
Confessors were to instill both assurance and anxiety in penitents. They were to be both friend and foe to sinners. According to Canon 21 of the Fourth Lateran Council, the ideal confessor was a gentle yet thorough doctor who took great care to apply the appropriate remedy to his wounded patient. 66 Late medieval synodal legislation repeated the guidelines of Lateran IV, thus ensuring that this tension would become a permanent feature of the confessor’s office. Many diocesan synods emphasized the more compassionate side of the confessor’s responsibilities.
45 For example, the famous Penitential of Columban (ca. ” Or again, “Whoever commits homicide . . ”46 The medieval penitential manuals did a great deal to strengthen the ancient conviction that human beings were obliged to compensate their Maker for serious wrongs committed after baptism. 47 God, Anselm maintained, had commanded the first human beings to honor him by voluntarily submitting their wills to his will. It was entirely just for God to require this obedience from Adam and Eve because he had given them all they Between Hope and Fear • 31 possessed, including life itself: they belonged to him.
Between Hope and Fear • 29 Late medieval Europeans went to confession because it made sense to them to do so, not only because the Church required it. In the sacrament of penance they received the grace—the divine credit—they believed they needed and also rendered the payment for sin they felt they owed. These two convictions—about the necessity of grace and the importance of doing penance—were, in turn, continually reinforced by sermons, devotional literature, forms of popular piety, and, especially, participation in sacramental confession.
