Studia Paradyskie

In the 20th century, research on Christian source texts was again undertaken, thanks to which essential ecclesiological and sacramentological elements were discovered. Bernhard Poschmann (1878–1955), Karl Rahner (1904–1984), Herbert Vorgrimler (1929–2014) and Reinhard Meßner (1960) are considered to be the most influential researchers of penance and confession of those times. Throughout the years, between the development of the patristic and scholastic thoughts, they discerned many significant changes. The connection between the Church and the excommunicated, the possibility of second penance in one’s life as well as a spiritual nature of penance and of the entire process of reconciliation were particularly underscored in patristics. In the further years of Christianity, during the Celtic evangelization mission in Europe, the influence of monastic life played a central role in overcoming human weakness. In scholasticism, in turn, the focus was placed rather on the significance of sin’s essence and on the process of forgiveness. The reality and forgiveness of sin during confession were expressed through the concepts of matter and form. The specified accents of the 20th century theological-historical research, in relation to understanding of penance and confession throughout the years between patristics and scholasticism, indicate a changing approach to understanding of sacramental forgiveness. With time, a spiritual nature of this sacrament was more and more underlined, which became particularly observable in the terminological conceptual shift from penance to confession.