John Arnold et al. --
At 01:46 PM 6/23/96 +0100, JH Arnold wrote:
> .... Is 'scandalum'
>separate from 'sin' in medieval canon law? or are they interlinked ..?
The medieval canonists whom I've read usually described 'scandalum'
as an aggravating circumstance that increased the seriousness of some sinful
act, rather than as a distinct, autonomous moral category in itself. As I
recall, Stephan Kuttner discussed this, at least briefly, and no doubt with
numerous references, in his _Kanonistische Schuldlehre von Gratian bis auf
die Dekretalen Gregors IX_, Studi e testi, vol. 64 (Vatican City:
Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1935; subsequently reprinted, I believe)
>
>also, i [and others here as well i am sure] would love to know what you
>think about the late mary mansfield's book *The Humiliation of Sinners* -
>this does have a very detailed and interesting discussion of public and
>private sin and penance ...
I'm glad you mentioned Mansfield's book: it prompted me to check it
out, which previously I had not done. I'm greatly impressed by the chapters
I've read thus far and I'm looking forward to getting into the liturgical
stuff, which looked extremely interesting when I glanced at some of it. She
was certainly on to something important in the history of penance. The
standard authorities do over-simplify the relationship between public and
private penance, and I've been guilty of this myself, _mea culpa_. Public
penances clearly did survive the introduction of 'private' confession as the
normal penitential rite and remained an important element in spirituality
through the later Middle Ages. I wish she had given more attention than she
did to the relationship between sacramental penance and juristic treatments
of _fama_, _infamia_, _notorium_ and so-forth. Had she lived perhaps she
might have done so, but alas it was not to be. I was also struck while
reading her passages on usury, restitution, and payment of debts that she
overlooked the so-called 'marital debt,' which judges in the external forum
occasionally attempted to enforce, but which confessors must surely have
dealt with far more often.
>
>cheers
>john arnold
>
Cheers, indeed. Prosit!
JAB
James A. Brundage
History & Law
University of Kansas
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