medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On Fri, 2 May 2003, jongenelen wrote:
>
> Can someone give me a summary of Martinus Luther's _Confitendi ratio_? It
> was published in 1520 in Antwerp (by Mich. Hillen van Hoochstraten) and in
> Leiden (by Jan Seversz). Of the list summary to: [log in to unmask]
>
This publication, originally a pamphlet, is found in the Weimar Edition of
Luther's Works volume 6, pp. 157-169. It is translated into English in
the Philadelphia Edition of Luther's Works, volume 1, pp. 73-101 and in
the American Edition of Luther's Works, volume 39, pp. 27-47.
Fundamentally, it is an application of Luther's new (i.e. 1519)
understanding of penance and God's forgiveness of sins by grace through
faith to the practice of private confession of sins to one's priest.
Luther's argument, quite baldly expressed, is that one's forgiveness does
not depend on the form, frequency, or completeness of one's verbal
confession, nor does it depend upon the character, wisdom, or judgement of
the priest hearing the confession. Rather it depends upon "the merciful
promise of God". Luther centres his attention on God's forgiveness of the
sinner as a person, not on the person's payment, sin by sin, of the
penalty for his sins.
This is a rather important writing of Luther, as one may judge by the fact
that it was twice translated into English in the last century alone. It
contains many of Luther's chief reformational insights expressed as they
apply to the individual believer. For that reason, I hesitate to try any
more complete a summary than what I've given. I encourage anyone
interested in it to read it in it's entirety, for it is brief and of a
simple, devotional nature, while discussing chief points of Luther's
theology.
Hope this helps.
Kindest regards,
Frank
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