Dark Box (eBook)

A Secret History of Confession

Cornwell John Cornwell (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2014
ProFile (Verlag)
978-1-84765-954-5 (ISBN)

Infos

Would you tell your deepest secrets to a relative stranger? And if you did, would you feel vulnerable? Cleansed? Or perhaps even worse than you did before? Confession has always performed a complex role in society, always created mixed feelings in its practitioners. As an acknowledgement of sinfulness, it can provide immense psychological relief; but while aiming to replace remorse with innocence, its history has become inextricably intertwined with eroticism and shame. The Dark Box is an erudite and personal history; Cornwell draws on his own memories of Catholic boyhood, and weaves it with the story of confession from its origins in the early church to the current day, where its enduring psychological potency is evidenced by everything from the Vatican's 'confession app' to Oprah Winfrey's talk shows. Since the 16th century, seclusion of two individuals in the intimate 'dark box', often discussing sexual actions and thoughts, has eroticised the experience of confession. When, in 1905, Pius X made confession a weekly, rather than yearly ritual, the horrific cases of child abuse which have haunted the Catholic church in the twentieth century became possible. John Cornwell's impassioned treatise on the dangers of confession is now available in paperback.

Rezensionen

The Dark Box is a book that anyone concerned with the future of the Catholic Church should take very seriously.

It's a powerful and disturbing addition to the literature on the subject, and lays bare the dysfunctional nature of a church which has still come nowhere near to facing its own self-inflicted demons.

John Cornwell has genuinely interesting things to say about confession.

Cornwell is a humane man with a sharp intellect.

Deeply felt, important and powerfully expressed.

The subject is a very important one and I am glad you have tackled it. The extraordinary change with regard to the sacrament and its regular use is something that seems to have happened without serious reflection by any authoritative people in the church. So I am sure your study will help in a process of reflection that should continue in the years ahead... proper reform of the practice of the sacrament of reconciliation is necessary so that people are not deprived of its benefits.

The Dark Box is a heartfelt mixture of history, theology and memoir that feels like one of John Cornwell's most important works. Even Pope Francis could learn something from it.

Far from being merely a history of the Catholic sacrament of confession, his book is a meticulously researched, carefully wrought and quietly furious anathema upon the Catholic Church as constituted from the Council of Trent in the 16th century up to the present day.

I found myself persuaded by his central thesis. The Catholic church has a sex obsession that is powered by enforced celibacy, and this sex obsession sometimes finds a perverse outlet in the dark box of confession.

John Cornwell, who has himself chosen cautiously to return to the Church which did him some very bad turns in his youth, has much to tell it, as it seeks to find a new way forward.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 13.2.2014
• Verlagsort: London
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Religionsgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Religion / Theologie ► Christentum ► Kirchengeschichte
• Themenwelt: Religion / Theologie ► Christentum ► Liturgik / Homiletik
• Themenwelt: Religion / Theologie ► Christentum ► Religionspädagogik / Katechetik
• Schlagworte: Catholic Church • Confession • John Cornwall • scandal • sex abuse
• ISBN-10: 1-84765-954-3 / 1847659543
• ISBN-13: 978-1-84765-954-5 / 9781847659545