Penance

Compelling voices charge that the theological notion of “sacrifice” valorizes suffering and fosters a culture of violence by the claim that Christ’s death on the Cross paid for human sins. Beneath the ‘sacred’ violence of sacrifice, René Girard discerns a concealed scapegoat-murder driven by a distortion of human desire that itself must lead to human self-annihilation. I here ask: can one speak safely of sacrifice; and can human beings somehow cease to practice the sacrifice that must otherwise destroy them? Drawing on Gregory the Great (ca. 540–604), I propose an understanding of sacrifice that both distinguishes Christian sacrifice from sacred violence and accounts for how to overcome the roots of the sacred violence identified by Girard.

I make four claims: First, Girard recognizes two kinds of sacrifice—one, the scapegoat murder, overcomes community rivalries by unanimous imitation of an accuser, shifting blame onto a third party who is collectively murdered; the other sort of sacrifice practices renunciation and forgiveness in imitation of God. These I respectively designate the “Satanic” (Girard’s term) and the “theomimetic” (mine). Second, I analyze the intrinsic instability that keeps the Satanic from sustaining the societal order and unity that it promises. Third, by a constructive reading of Gregory the Great, I posit that satanic sacrifice overlooks and indeed exacerbates the root of human covetousness—a failure to love. Fourth, Gregory’s teaching on the imitation of Christ enables us to expand on Girard’s account of the theo¬mimetic sacrifice of renunciation, to clarify how this latter might not only oppose but also systematically subvert the Satanic by healing the disorder out of which mimetic rivalry and scapegoating first take their rise.

https://doi.org/10.14321/contagion.27.2020.0177
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.14321/contagion.27.2020.0177
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/757320
https://philpapers.org/rec/WALTSA-15

"Our words indicate our thoughts, but our thoughts don't make anything happen…. It's not the same with God." In Speaking the Love of God: An Introduction to the Sacraments, Dr. Jacob W. Wood shows how Christ gives his Church the power to speak with God's voice in the seven sacraments. In this foundational guide to the sacraments, discover the power of the signs and words that transform us by grace and prepare us for glory.

This is a preprint of what will be the final chapter in a volume on penitentials (confessors' handbooks before c.1100)  The chapter uses penitentials to contribute to the ongoing task of fleshing out the early medieval body and forms of bodily healing; and centres the body in a rereading of penitentials and the ways they envisaged penance.

На запитання мирян на сторінках цієї книжки відповідає фахівець з канонічного права, який розтлумачує різні життєві ситуації і відповідні церковні приписи щодо них.

This book consists of the answers of a specialist on canon law to the questions of the swindlers, in which he interprets various life situations and church ordinances for them.

This paper is a reassessment of Augustine’s perception of his juridical duties, in light of his sermons.
The Early Christian bishop was expected to serve as a judge in disputes between parties who agreed be bound by his decision, and his authority to do so was legally ratified. Recent scholarship on the bishop’s court, however (Harries, Lenski, Humfress, Lamoreaux, etc.), almost always emphasizes how tedious the business was, and how reluctant bishops were to be engaged in it. The same is true for Augustine, who indeed complains about various aspects of this negotium (e.g. Ep. 33, 213, Enn. 24 in Ps. 118, De op. mon. 37), and Possidius’ positive account of Augustine’s judicial activity is depicted as too rosy in relation to the grim reality.
This paper offers some balance to this perspective, by demonstrating through Augustine’s sermons that, although he would have preferred that the people resolve their disputes without his help, he also energetically discouraged them from using secular courts. Even amid his complaints, Augustine speaks positively about the comfort that this duty affords him. Far from despising his judicial responsibility, Augustine understood it to be a divinely mandated aspect of the episcopacy, integral to his pastoral duty in caring for the souls of his flock, and an important element of the Church’s charity for the poor, who could through it be drawn into the Catholic church.

DRAFT of paper for Theology of Canon Law. Thesis that process and penal law, with the ends of of the application of censures, penalties, and penances, are tools for the salus animarum. Therefore, the salus animarum is not only an essential part of canon law, but it is something that must be applied.

"Mary Magdalene, Iconographic Studies from the Middle Ages to the Baroque examines the iconographic inventions in Magdalene imagery and the contextual factors that shaped her representation in visual art from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries. Unique to other saints in the medieval lexicon, images of Mary Magdalene were altered over time to satisfy the changing needs of her patrons as well as her audience. By shedding light on the relationship between the Magdalene and her patrons, both corporate and private, as well as the religious institutions and regions where her imagery is found, this anthology reveals the flexibility of the Magdalene’s character in art and, in essence, the reinvention of her iconography from one generation to the next.

Contributors include: Joanne Anderson, Barbara Baert, Andrea Begel, Elizabeth Carroll Consavari, Bobbi Dykema, Jane Eade, Michelle Erhardt, Rachel Geschwind, Barbara Johnston, Patrick Hunt, Annette LeZotte, Amy Morris, Margaret Morse, Michelle Moseley-Christian, Vibeke Olson, and Lisa Rafanelli, with a preface by Susan Haskins."

This new edition (currently in early draft) aims to replace that of H.J. Schmitz, now nearly 120 years old. It is based on a fresh assessment of all the available manuscript evidence as well as recent research into source material. The edition will include indices, commentary, translation (English), and exhaustive source information. A draft edition is currently available here for viewing or download as a PDF. More information available at http://individual.utoronto.ca/michaelelliot/manuscripts/texts/poenitentiale_ecgberhti.html.

Many Orthodox Christians consider that the remission of sins committed after the Baptism can be granted exclusively as a result of confession, either individual or general, with the recitation of the absolution prayer by a priest at its end. Many Orthodox believers in Ukraine go to confession every time before receiving Holy Communion. This practice completely differs from the Greek or Ancient Church. The penitential practice of the Ancient Church knew different rules of the epithemioi but only after committing a serious sin, excommunicating the sinner from the Eucharistic community. The period of the penance lasted for years with different grades while obtaining it, but we have no witness of any special absolution prayers from that time. The article examines the witnesses of the liturgical tradition, including the rite of fasting, the prayers of the Divine Liturgy as well as of the Divine Office for the ideas of the remission of daily sins. The custom of fasting twice weekly known from the Apostolic times comes from old Jewish tradition where it was considered as a means for the remission of sins. St John Chrysostom referred to the core psalm of the vespers service, Ps. 140 (141) as to the means of the true healing, and to the morning Psalm 62 (63) as to the prayer that lights the love to God and leads the one reciting it away from sins. The great penitential psalm of King David, Ps. 50 (51) is the core psalm for the Orthros, with the penitential prayer following it in the rite of Constantinople. And the end of the Orthros there is an inclination prayer with the main theme of the forgiveness of sins committed voluntary or involuntary. The Lord’s Prayer was introduced into the rite of the Divine Liturgy since mid-IV c. with the main purpose of the forgiveness of sins and mutual forgiveness of Christians.

For Thomas Aquinas, the first effect (res et sacramentum) of the sacrament of penance or reconciliation is "interior penance". Thomas Aquinas does not juxtapose reconciliation with the Church and reconciliation with God, as some 13th century authors did and as some 20th century authors have suggested by making "reconciliation with the Church" the first effect of this sacrament. For Thomas Aquinas, the person of the penitent, reconciliation with God through the gift of charity, and the mediation of the Church converge in a profound unity.

У четвертому номері журналу містяться матеріяли, які висвітлюють наукову діяльність українських каноністів у різних її виявах. Тут зібрано статті, які торкаються питання Божого народу, прийняття ним святих таїнств: Хрещення, Миропомазання, Покаяння, Євхаристії, а також питання про спосіб дотримання посту й розуміння карної санкції в Церкві. Крім питань, які стосуються внутрішнього форуму людини, розглянуто проблеми зовнішньої організації Церкви: церковні книги, питання автономії Церков, титул Папи Римського «патріярх Заходу».

The fourth issue of journal contains materials that highlight the different manifestations of scientific activities of Ukrainian canonists. There are gathered articles that refer to the issue of People of God, the adoption of holy sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Penance, the Eucharist, and to the issue of keeping fasting and the understanding of punitive sanction in the Church.  Except issues that refer to an internal world of person, the journal considers issues of the external organization of the Church: church`s books, the question of the autonomy of the Churches, and the title of the Pope of Rome "the Patriarch of the West".

Can penances (prāyaścitta) cure diseases according to classic Hindu Law texts on "The Ripening of Karman" (karmavipāka)? According to older texts, penance can only prevent negatvie karman from ripening in the future, but it cannot stop the karman that is already unfolding. That view, however, was challenged in later texts. The chapter examines one such later text, the mid-fourteenth century Karmavipāka digression in Mādhavācārya’s Parāśaramādhavīya.

Il "Sermone su Ninive e Giona" è un memrā appartenente alla collezione di sermoni metrici scritti da Efrem di Nisibi. L’opera fu composta, forse a Edessa, in occasione di una festività liturgica in cui l’accento era posto sulla penitenza. I destinatari dell’opera sembrano infatti i membri di una ampia comunità cittadina, che si riflette nelle numerose figure che il poeta evoca all’interno del suo sermone. L’opera, a cavallo tra predica morale, esegesi biblica ed elaborata poesia dipinge l’arrivo del profeta Giona nella città di Ninive per annunciare la sua distruzione imminente voluta da Dio. Solo grazie a uno sfiancante periodo di quaranta giorni, durante i quali i Niniviti mostrano la loro conversione con duri atti di privazione, il popolo viene salvato. L’esemplarità di Ninive riguardo alla potenza del pentimento è ulteriormente rafforzata dalla forte carica polemica con cui Efrem si scaglia contro varie categorie umane che invece languiscono nella corruzione dell’empietà e della falsità. Il testo è accompagnato in appendice dai nove inni (madrāšē) su Ninive e Giona di Efrem.

Scholarship on Matt 5.25–26 has focused on the question of whether the saying offers mundane wisdom or threatens divine judgment, with the majority concluding that the saying refers to eternal punishment in hell. This article examines debt-prison and related phenomena before turning to the illuminating history of ancient interpretation. The article concludes that the 'eternal damnation' gloss widely favoured today is an over-interpretation first inspired by the exigencies of 4th and 5th century doctrinal controversy. Instead of eternal perdition, Matt 5.25–26 and its parallels suggest a time of straits followed by possible release.

The Western portal of the Protestant church of Hosman is a sample of Romanesque style, style brought to Transylvania by the Saxon colonists. Among its decorative elements, containing column’s capitels decorated with patterns very similar to those of the Western Giant Portal of St. Stephen Wien Cathedral, we have identified a different approach of carved figures, clustered in specific religious themes.
Considering the themes represented in the portal arches as a narration with specific meaning, after the individual identification of each scene we have connected these scenes to one another, finding as result a pattern of association.
According to this pattern, each part of the assembly corresponds to a specific moment in the framework of general narration, associated in various ways in the process of illustration of the sacrament of Penance.

In questo contributo è stata studiata la genesi e la diffusione di una lettera interpolata di papa Gregorio Magno, l'Ep. IX, 148. Il falso fu compilato nell'ambiente della curia papale in occasione del concilio che si tenne a Roma nel 769. Lo scopo della lettera era duplice: dimostrare, facendo appello all'autorità di Gregorio, la liceità della venerazione delle immagini e la possibilità di reintegrare nel primitivo honor i sacerdoti che fossero macchiati di qualche colpa. Nei decenni successivi la tramissione manoscritta del falso si sviluppa prevalentemente al di là delle Alpi mentre il testo della lettera, destinato a confluire nel corpus delle decretali psedo-isidoriane, è inserito sia nei penitenziali di Rabano Mauro sia nell'ambito della polemica fra l'arcivescovo Incmaro di Reims e suo nipote, vescovo di Laon. This contribution examines the genesis and the diffusion of an interpolated letter of Pope Gregory the Great, the Ep. IX, 148. The forgery was compiled in the environment of the papal curia during the council that took place in Rom in 769. The purpose of the letter was dual: proving, by appealing to the authority of Gregory, the legitimacy of the veneration of the images and the possibility to reintegrate the priests that disgraced themselves in the primitive honour. In the following decades, the transmission of the manuscript of the forgery mainly occurs across the Alps, while the text of the letter-destined to converge into the corpus of the Pseudo-Isidorian decretals-is included both into the penitentials of Hraban and the scope of the controversy between the archbishop Hincmar of Reims and his nephew, the bishop of Laon.

Après avoir donné un aperçu des thèmes transmis par les exempla médiévaux de la confession, a été donné le dossier des récits où interviennent des scènes d'ordalies (fer rouge, duel). Le caractère spectaculaire et théâtral de ces anecdotes, d'origine essentiellement cistercienne, mettant en jeu le corps même de l'homme aux prises avec la divinité, leurs personnages hauts en relief (hérétiques, incroyants, fornicateurs, femmes adultères) se rattachant à une réalité historique précise, ont permis leur irruption dans les recueils d'exempla des XIIIe et XIVe siècles. Les ordalies par le feu, combattues et pourchassées par l'autorité ecclésiastique, mais vivant dans les mémoires et prêtes à resurgir - contre les sorciers - deviennent un lieu commun efficace dans la prédication de la confession, que les auteurs étudiés n'assimilent en aucune manière, même métaphoriquement, à l'aveu pénitentiel.

This article examines the earliest surviving adaptation of the Long Latin Visio Sancti Pauli in the West with a view to shedding light on the context and milieu in which this text was transmitted and adapted. It is argued that the text points to transmission in an Hiberno-Frankish milieu in which the paenitentialia minora also circulated, together with an Insular collection of homilies. Based on the text as it stands in StG1, Rhaetia or Northern Italy after 721 AD may be the likeliest place for the earliest reception and adaptation of the Visio Sancti Pauli.

Keywords: Visio Sancti Pauli, Redaction VI, penitential handbooks, private penance, kinship, Caesarius of Arles, Boniface, Milan, Apocrypha

U članku se analizira slučaj koji se dogodio u Dubrovniku 1284., kada je svećenik Barbije Longo odsjekao nos benediktinke Mire. Autorica pokazuje da se uobičajena kontroverza oko nadležnosti nad klericima u ovom slučaju nije dogodila, odnosno da je suradnja između ckrvenih i svjetovnih vlasti bila uzorna. Umjesto toga, napetosti koje su se pojavile oko slučaja razvile su se u dva pravca. Premda crkvene vlasti nisu oklijevale odlučno reagirati na zločin, rekluze su iskazale posve nezavisan stav prema događaju i pomogle su počinitelju u bijegu. Drugu je napetost generirala lokalna zajednica na čelu s obitelji žrtve, koja se pokušala osvetiti i koja je svjetovni sud pozivala na izricanje stroge kazne.

Analyse des vingt exempla fournis par la rubrique « Confession » (8 directement et 12 par renvoi) de l'Alphabet des récits du dominicain Arnold de Liège, composé entre 1297 et 1308. Ces récits fournissent l'image d'une confession réifiée que se disputent Dieu et le diable, et qui est créatrice de bienfaits, souvent matériels.