Reconciliation

The following entries deal primarily with the history of the sacrament of reconciliation in the West and, after the Protestant Reformation, in the Roman Catholic church. From the New Testament onward, Christians were convinced that sin disrupted relationships with God and within the church. Hence the church was responsible to deal with sin. From the broader topic of how the church maintains discipline, the following focuses more narrowly on post-baptismal confession of sin and reconciliation with the church.…