Gewissen und Gerechtigkeit in den Beichtbüchern der Frühen Neuzeit

Abstract “Conscience” was a main issue in the Catholic theology of the XVI century and it played an important part in the speculative theology of the great commentaries on the Summa theologiae, where it was treated as the epistemological problem of the synderesis. But it also dominated the literature of the Summulae confessorum, which was intended to solve problems of practical life. These writings could rely on a quite long and very rich tradition, which had given in the XV century a systematic shape to all questions pertaining to the different fora competent for the sins of the Christian. The main feature of this doctrine was that the church had to administrate both the forum internum and the forum externum, which was intended as a part of the ecclesiastic jurisdiction. The same pattern was adopted since the late XVI century by both Lutheran and Calvinistic or Puritan theology, of course with an important difference, because the sacramental mediation of the church in the process of the confession was progressively dismissed completely. In this way, the difference between the forum internum and the forum externum was developed to such a point that the former corresponded only with the singular conscience and the latter coincided only with the law of a sovereign power.