DOCSLIB.ORG

The Nature of Law and Legality in the Byzantine Canonical Collections 381-883

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

Durham E-Theses The Nature of Law and Legality in the Byzantine Canonical Collections 381-883 WAGSCHAL, DAVID,FERGUSON How to cite: WAGSCHAL, DAVID,FERGUSON (2010) The Nature of Law and Legality in the Byzantine Canonical Collections 381-883, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/468/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 The Nature of Law and Legality in the Byzantine Canonical Collections 381-883 David Ferguson Wagschal The present work seeks to explore the nature of law and legality in the Byzantine canonical tradition through a careful reading of the central texts of the Byzantine canonical corpus. The principal topics to be considered include the shape and growth of the corpus as a whole, the content and themes of the traditional prologues, the language, genre and style of the canons themselves, and the traditional thematic rearrangements of the canonical corpus. As a cultural-historical exploration of law, this work has as its goal throughout to trace the fundamental contours of how the tradition conceives, frames and "imagines" itself as a legal system: central themes and concepts, basic presuppositions, recurring patterns, and prominent contextualizations. Drawing on categories of modern legal theory and legal anthropology, this work is particularly interested in the nature of legal norms and their relationship to other normative systems, the place and role of technical rule-discourse, and mechanisms of change, development and interpretation. The relationship of the canons to the secular law will also be taken into account. The central argument of this work is that the picture of law that emerges from the Byzantine material is fundamentally at odds with many formalist/positivist expectations of modern western legal culture. This dissonance had traditionally made it very easy to dismiss Byzantine canon law as "primitive" or "decadent". If approached more sympathetically, however, this strange legal world can be read as constituting a surprisingly coherent and rich legal system that is characterized by 1) a deep investment in embedding itself in broader value-narratives; 2) the centrality of the idea of law as a sacred (and relatively inviolable) tradition; and 3) a strong orientation towards the realization of substantive justice, not formal consistency. If taken seriously, this picture of law has a number of important implications for contemporary Orthodox canonical legal theory, the broader history of church law, and the study of late antique and Byzantine law generally. The Nature of Law and Legality in the Byzantine Canonical Collections 381-883 Volume One of Two David Ferguson Wagschal Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Theology and Religion Durham University 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME I Introduction.......................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1: The Shape of the Law Introduction.....................................................................................................................25 A. A preliminary problem: codicology...........................................................................25 B. The tradition takes shape: a survey of the textual history of Byzantine canon law...30 C. Major contours of the tradition..................................................................................47 1. Unity, stability, continuity...............................................................................47 2. A Greek phenomenon......................................................................................54 3. Size..................................................................................................................56 4. Autonomy........................................................................................................58 5. Structure, order and patterns of growth in the corpus.....................................59 6. Is something missing? The problem of official definition, jurisprudence and professionalization...............................................................................................68 D. Summary and analysis: a curious law indeed.............................................................78 Chapter 2. Introducing the law: the traditional framing material Introduction.....................................................................................................................83 A. Content........................................................................................................................85 1. The Nicene creed.............................................................................................85 2. The Apostolic material....................................................................................86 3. The Prologue of the Coll50: Οἱ τοῦ μεγάλου θεοῦ .........................................90 4. The Prologues of the Coll14: Τὰ μὲν σώματα and Ὁ μὲν παρών...................95 5. The Trullan complex.....................................................................................103 6. II Nicaea 1.....................................................................................................107 7. Minor texts.....................................................................................................110 B. Central themes, priorities, categories........................................................................116 1. An initial problem: "rhetoric"........................................................................116 2. Embedding the canons: fundamental contexts and referents.........................120 3. One special context: the civil law .................................................................124 4. Sources and legislation..................................................................................127 C. Summary and analysis: the law introduced..............................................................130 Chapter 3. The Language(s) of the law: reading the canons Introduction...................................................................................................................132 A. Nomenclature............................................................................................................132 1. Naming the laws: terms for rules...................................................................132 2. Naming the law? The missing concept of "canon law"................................145 B. Genre.........................................................................................................................146 C. Normativity I: the canons as rules. Structure and dispositive vocabulary................151 D. Normativity II: the legal language of the canons......................................................159 1. The legal parts...............................................................................................160 2. The legal whole?............................................................................................171 E. Normativity III: The non-legal legal language of the canons...................................175 iii 1. Three principal discourses: tradition, pedagogy, persuasion.........................177 2. Principal "assemblages": basic contexts and motifs.....................................187 a. Scripture.............................................................................................187 b. Morality and metaphysics..................................................................190 c. Honour and appearances...................................................................192 d. Purity, cleanliness and defilement.....................................................195 e. Medicine............................................................................................197 f. The Divine presence and the sacred...................................................198 3. The legal whole revisited...............................................................................201 F. Summary and analysis: the language of the law.......................................................203 Chapter 4. Systematizing the law: the 6th C thematic collections Introduction...................................................................................................................206 A. Origin and dating......................................................................................................206 B. Self-presentation.......................................................................................................213 C. Morphology...............................................................................................................215 D. Source selection........................................................................................................217
Recommended publications
  • Penitential Season of Lent We Look at Ways in Which We Can Observe the Church’S Traditional Practices of Prayer, Fasting and Alms- Giving

    Penitential Season of Lent We Look at Ways in Which We Can Observe the Church’S Traditional Practices of Prayer, Fasting and Alms- Giving

    The CatholicWitness The Newspaper of the Diocese of Harrisburg March 3, 2017 Vol. 51 No. 4 s we enter the penitential Aseason of Lent – the 40-day period of preparation for Easter – Penitential Season of Lent we look at ways in which we can observe the Church’s traditional practices of prayer, fasting and alms- giving. In our Lenten journey, prayer life can include regular or daily atten- dance at Mass, deeper reflection on the Scripture readings, and ponder- ing the Stations of the Cross. Lent is also a time to return to the Sacra- ment of Penance and Reconciliation in preparation for the celebration of Christ’s Passion, Death and Resur- rection. Without making room for God’s word in their heart, people will never be able to welcome and love all human life, Pope Francis said in his Lenten message. “Each life that we encounter is a gift deserving acceptance, respect and love,” he said. “May the Holy Spirit lead us on a true journey of conversion, so that we can rediscover the gift of God’s word, be purified of the sin that blinds us and serve Christ present CHRIS HEISEY, THE CATHOLIC WITNESS A woman receives ashes during Ash Wednesday Mass celebrated at St. Patrick Cathedral in Harrisburg last year. The in our brothers and sisters in need,” penitential season of Lent calls us to prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Pope Francis said. Father Haviland This Lent, CRS Rice Bowl Opens Was ‘Always Available Path to a Culture of Encounter to Parishioners’ Catholic Relief Services By Jen Reed The season of Lent is marked The Catholic Witness by many traditions among Catholics in the United States.
  • The Brothers Karamazov in the Prism of Hesychast Anthropology

    The Brothers Karamazov in the Prism of Hesychast Anthropology

    V. THE UNEVEN PATH OF RUSSIAN SPIRITUALITY 176 The Brothers Karamazov in the Prism of Hesychast Anthropology Sergey Khoruzhy (Institute of Synergetic Anthropology, Moscow) Introduction: The Brothers Karamazov, The Elders and Hesychasm It might seem that everything that can be written on Feodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov has already been written long ago, but nevertheless everywhere in the world this novel continues to be studied and discussed again and again. There is no contradiction in this. We know that people will always turn to The Karamazovs and similar cultural phenomena, not so much for making great new discoveries about these works, as for getting help in discovering and understanding themselves. Such is the role or maybe even definition of truly classical phenomena: they are landmarks in the world of culture, which people of any time use in order to determine their own location in this world. Any time and any cultural community address classical phenomena in their own way. They put their own questions to these phenomena, the questions that are most essential for them and for their self-determination. Choosing my subject, I would like to choose it among these essential questions: What is important in The Karamazovs for our time, for present-day people? The present-day situation, both Russian and global, social and cultural, tells us that the focus of these problems is concentrated in what is happening to the human person: in anthropology. Cardinal changes are taking place, which diverge sharply from classical anthropology. Man shows strong will and irresistible drive to extreme experiences of all kinds, including dangerous, asocial and transgressive ones.
  • Ecumenical Ecclesiology in Its New Contexts: Considering the Transformed Relationship Between Roman Catholic Ecclesiology and Ecumenism

    Ecumenical Ecclesiology in Its New Contexts: Considering the Transformed Relationship Between Roman Catholic Ecclesiology and Ecumenism

    religions Article Ecumenical Ecclesiology in its New Contexts: Considering the Transformed Relationship between Roman Catholic Ecclesiology and Ecumenism Kristin Colberg Department of Theology, College of Saint Benedict, St. John’s School of Theology & Seminary, Collegeville, MN 56321-2000, USA; [email protected] Received: 20 August 2018; Accepted: 25 September 2018; Published: 26 September 2018 Abstract: The quest for Christian unity is entering a new phase amidst the movement’s many voices, perspectives and tensions. Christians are witnessing the advent of an emerging ecumenical paradigm, which, because it is not fully realized, is still realizing its full definition. The paradigm operates in a global context rather than a Eurocentric one, and even as it is more global, it is simultaneously more local. It cultivates shared praxis while being less concerned with the comparison of dogmas. Ecclesiology is also entering a new paradigm which shares many features with its ecumenical counterpart, particularly its global perspective and interest in shared praxis ahead of dogmatic questions. Even though ecumenism and ecclesiology share common trajectories, their journeys are unfolding in largely parallel rather than cooperative and mutually-enriching ways. This raises the question: What opportunities might arise from examining the shifts in ecumenism and ecclesiology together? This article examines how new methodological and practical developments in these two fields can form and inform one another. It studies the shift to synodality in the Catholic Church and the turn towards discernment in the ecumenical sphere as manifestations of similar theological commitments and a common interest in cultivating participatory processes. The seismic changes reshaping the religious landscape are transforming the relationship between ecumenism and ecclesiology; yet a strong connection between them endures and illumines paths forward for the church in the third millennium.
  • The Virtue of Penance in the United States, 1955-1975

    The Virtue of Penance in the United States, 1955-1975

    THE VIRTUE OF PENANCE IN THE UNITED STATES, 1955-1975 Dissertation Submitted to The College of Arts and Sciences of the UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree Doctor of Philosophy in Theology By Maria Christina Morrow UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON Dayton, Ohio December 2013 THE VIRTUE OF PENANCE IN THE UNITED STATES, 1955-1975 Name: Morrow, Maria Christina APPROVED BY: _______________________________________ Sandra A. Yocum, Ph.D. Committee Chair _______________________________________ William L. Portier, Ph.D. Committee Member Mary Ann Spearin Chair in Catholic Theology _______________________________________ Kelly S. Johnson, Ph.D. Committee Member _______________________________________ Jana M. Bennett, Ph.D. Committee Member _______________________________________ William C. Mattison, III, Ph.D. Committee Member iii ABSTRACT THE VIRTUE OF PENANCE IN THE UNITED STATES, 1955-1975 Name: Morrow, Maria Christina University of Dayton Advisor: Dr. Sandra A. Yocum This dissertation examines the conception of sin and the practice of penance among Catholics in the United States from 1955 to 1975. It begins with a brief historical account of sin and penance in Christian history, indicating the long tradition of performing penitential acts in response to the identification of one’s self as a sinner. The dissertation then considers the Thomistic account of sin and the response of penance, which is understood both as a sacrament (which destroys the sin) and as a virtue (the acts of which constitute the matter of the sacrament but also extend to include non-sacramental acts). This serves to provide a framework for understanding the way Catholics in the United States identified sin and sought to amend for it by use of the sacrament of penance as well as non-sacramental penitential acts of the virtue of penance.
  • Definition of DECRETAL ORDER • Law Dictionary • Thelaw.Com Visited on 09/19/2018

    Definition of DECRETAL ORDER • Law Dictionary • Thelaw.Com Visited on 09/19/2018

    Definition of DECRETAL ORDER • Law Dictionary • TheLaw.com Visited on 09/19/2018 Ask a Legal Question Submit Article Law Dictionary My Account FAQ Contact Us Support Site Search Login or Sign up Search The Law Dictionary HOME LAW FORUM LAW GUIDE LAW JOURNAL LAWYERS LEGAL FORMS & FILES INBOX ALERTS Home » Law Dictionary » D » DECRETAL ORDER DECRETAL ORDER THELAW.COM LAW DICTIONARY & BLACK'S LAW DICTIONARY 2ND ED. Chancery practice. An order made by the court of chancery, upon a motion or petition, in the nature of a decree. See DECREE; ORDER. Related Legal Terms & Definitions FURTHER In most of its uses in law, this term means additional, though occassionaly it may… CONFESSO, BILL TAKEN PRO In equity practice. An order which the court of chancery makes when the defendant floes… INTERLOCUTOR In Scotch practice. An order or decree of court; an order made in open court… DECREE practice. The judgment or sentence of a court of equity. 2. It is either interlocutory… MOTION (A) During a lawsuit or litigation, it is one party's request to the court for… DECREE ABSOLUTE A final decision and order of a court after the condition of an interim order… VESTING ORDER In English law. An order which may be granted by the chancery division of the… STOP ORDER The name of an order grautable in English chancery practice, to prevent drawing out a… FILED UNDER: D ADD A NEW LEGAL TERM Can't find the legal word, term, phrase or abbreviation that you're seeking in our dictionary? Add or request a definition by filling out the short form below! https://dictionary.thelaw.com/decretal-order/[9/19/2018 4:03:57 PM] Definition of DECRETAL ORDER • Law Dictionary • TheLaw.com Visited on 09/19/2018 Legal Term Legal Definition reCAPTCHA LAW DICTIONARY & GUIDE APP LAW APP PRO LAW APP LAW APP PRO LAW APP Over 2,000 Five Star Ratings Black's Law Dictionary 2nd Ed.
  • Xerox University Microfilms

    Xerox University Microfilms

    INFORMATION TO USERS This material was produced from a microfilm copy o f the original document. While the most advai peed technological meant to photograph and reproduce this document have been useJ the quality is heavily dependent upon the quality of the original submitted. The followini explanation o f techniques is provided to help you understand markings or pattei“ims which may appear on this reproduction. 1. The sign or “ target" for pages apparently lacking from die document phoiographed is “Missing Page(s)". If it was possible to obtain the missing page(s) or section, they are spliced into the film along with adjacent pages. This| may have necessitated cutting thru an image and duplicating adjacent pages to insure you complete continuity. 2. Wheji an image on the film is obliterated with a large round black mark, it is ar indication that the photographer suspected that the copy may have mo1vad during exposure and thus cause a blurred image. You will find a good image of the page in the adjacent frame. 3. Wheh a map, drawing or chart, etc., was part of the material being photographed the photographer followed a definite method in 'sectioning" the material. It is customary to begin photoing at the upper left hand corner of a large sheet and to continue photoing from left to righj in equal sections with a small overlap. If necessary, sectioning is continued again - beginning below the first row and continuing on until com alete. 4. The majority of users indicate that the textual content is of greatest value, ho we ver, a somewhat higher quality reproduction could be made from "ph btographs" if essential to the understanding of the dissertation.
  • Merchant in the Confessional : Trade and Price in the Pre-Reformation Penitential Handbooks / by Odd Langholm

    Merchant in the Confessional : Trade and Price in the Pre-Reformation Penitential Handbooks / by Odd Langholm

    THE MERCHANT IN THE CONFESSIONAL Odd Langholm BRILL THE MERCHANT IN THE CONFESSIONAL STUDIES IN MEDIEVAL AND REFORMATION THOUGHT FOUNDED BY HEIKO A. OBERMAN † EDITED BY ANDREW COLIN GOW, Edmonton, Alberta IN COOPERATION WITH THOMAS A. BRADY, Jr., Berkeley, California SUSAN C. KARANT-NUNN, Tucson, Arizona JÜRGEN MIETHKE, Heidelberg M. E. H. NICOLETTE MOUT, Leiden ANDREW PETTEGREE, St. Andrews MANFRED SCHULZE, Wuppertal VOLUME XCIII ODD LANGHOLM THE MERCHANT IN THE CONFESSIONAL SMRT-93-lang.qxd 7-11-2002 15:05 Page iii THE MERCHANT IN THE CONFESSIONAL TRADE AND PRICE IN THE PRE-REFORMATION PENITENTIAL HANBOOKS BY ODD LANGHOLM BRILL LEIDEN • BOSTON 2003 SMRT-93-lang.qxd 7-11-2002 15:05 Page iv This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Langholm, Odd, 1928- The merchant in the confessional : trade and price in the pre-Reformation penitential handbooks / by Odd Langholm. p. cm. -- (Studies in medieval and Reformation thought ; v. 93) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 9004129049 (hard cover) 1. Penitentials--History--To 1500. 2. Business--Religious aspects--Christianity--History of doctrines--Middle Ages, 600-1500. I. Title. II. Series. BX2266.B87 L36 2003 264'.020862--dc21 2002034384 Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufnahme Langholm, Odd : The Merchant in the Confessional : Trade and Price in the Pre-Reformation Penitential Handbooks -- Leiden ; Boston : Brill 2003 (Studies in Medieval and Reformation Thought ; Vol. 93) ISBN 9004 129 049 ISSN 0585-6914 ISBN 90 04 12904 9 © Copyright 2003 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher.
  • Synoptic Traditions in Didache

    Synoptic Traditions in Didache

    Synoptic Tradition in the Didache Revisited Dr. Aaron Milavec Center for the Study of Religion and Society University of Victoria Ever since a complete copy of the Didache was first discovered in 1873, widespread efforts have been undertaken to demonstrate that the framers of the Didache depended upon a known Gospel (usually Matthew, Luke, or both) and upon one or more Apostolic Fathers (Barnabas, Hermas, and/or Justin Martyr). In more recent times, however, most scholars have pushed back the date of composition to the late first or early second century and called into question dependency upon these sources. In the late 50s, Audet1. Glover2, and Koester3 cautiously developed this stance independent of each other. More recently, Draper4, Kloppenborg5, Milavec6, Niederwimmer7, Rordorf8, and Van de Sandt9 have argued quite persuasively in favor of this position. Opposition voices, however, are still heard. C.M. Tuckett10 of Oxford University, for example, reexamined all the evidence in 1989 and came to the conclusion that parts of the Didache "presuppose the redactional activity of both evangelists" thereby reasserting an earlier position that "the Didache here presupposes the gospels of Matthew and Luke in their finished forms."11 Clayton N. Jefford, writing in the same year independent of Tuckett, came to the conclusion that the Didache originated in the same community that produced the Gospel of Matthew and that both works had common sources but divergent purposes.12 Vicky Balabanski, in a book-length treatment of the eschatologies of Mark, Matthew, and Didache, reviewed all the evidence up until 1997 and concluded that Did. 16 was written "to clarify and specify certain aspects of Matthew's eschatology."13 This essay will weigh the evidence for and against dependence upon the Gospel of Matthew--the most frequently identified "written source" for the Didache.
  • A Brief History of Coptic Personal Status Law Ryan Rowberry Georgia State University College of Law, Rrowberry@Gsu.Edu

    A Brief History of Coptic Personal Status Law Ryan Rowberry Georgia State University College of Law, [email protected]

    Georgia State University College of Law Reading Room Faculty Publications By Year Faculty Publications 1-1-2010 A Brief History of Coptic Personal Status Law Ryan Rowberry Georgia State University College of Law, [email protected] John Khalil Follow this and additional works at: https://readingroom.law.gsu.edu/faculty_pub Part of the Comparative and Foreign Law Commons, and the Human Rights Law Commons Recommended Citation Ryan Rowberry & John Khalil, A Brief History of Coptic Personal Status Law, 3 Berk. J. Middle E. & Islamic L. 81 (2010). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Publications at Reading Room. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications By Year by an authorized administrator of Reading Room. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Brief History of Coptic Personal Status Law Ryan Rowberry John Khalil* INTRODUCTION With the U.S.-led "War on Terror" and the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, American legal scholars have understandably focused increased attention on the various schools and applications of Islamic law in Middle Eastern countries. 1 This focus on Shari'a law, however, has tended to elide the complexity of traditional legal pluralism in many Islamic nations. Numerous Christian communities across the Middle East (e.g., Syrian, Armenian, Coptic, Nestorian, Maronite), for example, adhere to personal status laws that are not based on Islamic legal principles. Christian minority groups form the largest non-Muslim . Ryan Rowberry and Jolin Khalil graduated from Harvard Law School in 2008. Ryan is currently a natural resources associate at Hogan Lovells US LLP in Washington D.C., and John Khalil is a litigation associate at Lowey, Dannenberg, Cowey & Hart P.C.
  • The Donation-Based Approach to Solving Critical Social Issues: an Examination of the Food Waste Recovery Approach to Solving Hunger in the United States

    The Donation-Based Approach to Solving Critical Social Issues: an Examination of the Food Waste Recovery Approach to Solving Hunger in the United States

    SIT Graduate Institute/SIT Study Abroad SIT Digital Collections Capstone Collection SIT Graduate Institute Spring 5-25-2017 The onD ation-based Approach to Solving Critical Social Issues: An Examination of the Food Waste Recovery Approach to Solving Hunger in the United States Desa Radic SIT Graduate Institute Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/capstones Part of the Agriculture Commons, Arts and Humanities Commons, Economics Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Food Studies Commons, and the Politics and Social Change Commons Recommended Citation Radic, Desa, "The onD ation-based Approach to Solving Critical Social Issues: An Examination of the Food Waste Recovery Approach to Solving Hunger in the United States" (2017). Capstone Collection. 2996. https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/capstones/2996 This Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by the SIT Graduate Institute at SIT Digital Collections. It has been accepted for inclusion in Capstone Collection by an authorized administrator of SIT Digital Collections. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE DONATION-BASED APPROACH TO SOLVING CRITICAL SOCIAL ISSUES: AN EXAMINATION OF THE FOOD WASTE RECOVERY APPROACH TO SOLVING HUNGER IN THE UNITED STATES Desa N. Radic PIM 74 A capstone paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Master of Arts in Sustainable Development at SIT Graduate Institute in Brattleboro, Vermont, USA. May 25th, 2017 Advisor: Mokhtar Bouba Consent to Use of Capstone I hereby grant permission for World Learning to publish my capstone on its websites and in any of its digital/electronic collections and to reproduce transmit my capstone electronically.
  • Historical Notes on the Canon Law on Solemnized Marriage

    Historical Notes on the Canon Law on Solemnized Marriage

    The Catholic Lawyer Volume 2 Number 2 Volume 2, April 1956, Number 2 Article 3 Historical Notes on the Canon Law on Solemnized Marriage William F. Cahill, B.A., J.C.D. Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/tcl Part of the Catholic Studies Commons This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at St. John's Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Catholic Lawyer by an authorized editor of St. John's Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The nature and importance of the Catholic marriage ceremony is best understood in the light of historicalantecedents. With such a perspective, the canon law is not likely to seem arbitrary. HISTORICAL NOTES ON THE CANON LAW ON SOLEMNIZED MARRIAGE WILLIAM F. CAHILL, B.A., J.C.D.* T HE law of the Catholic Church requires, under pain of nullity, that the marriages of Catholics shall be celebrated in the presence of the parties, of an authorized priest and of two witnesses.1 That law is the product of an historical development. The present legislation con- sidered apart from its historical antecedents can be made to seem arbitrary. Indeed, if the historical background is misconceived, the 2 present law may be seen as tyrannical. This essay briefly states the correlation between the present canons and their antecedents in history. For clarity, historical notes are not put in one place, but follow each of the four headings under which the present Church discipline is described.
  • On the Integrity of Confession As Prolegomena for Luther and Trent

    On the Integrity of Confession As Prolegomena for Luther and Trent

    Theological Studies 54(1993) THE SUMMAE CONFESSORUM ON THE INTEGRITY OF CONFESSION AS PROLEGOMENA FOR LUTHER AND TRENT KiLiAN MCDONNELL, O.S.B. Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research, Collegeville, Minn. TT ΤΠΉ THE EXCEPTION of satisfaction, no Reformation issue concern- W ing the sacrament of penance was so hotly debated as integrity of confession, the requirement that one must make a complete confes­ sion. In part, the heated discussion was related to the role integrity played in Catholic penitential life. Speaking of the Catholic practice just prior to the Reformation, T. N. Tentler contends that 'to exagger­ ate the importance of completeness seems hardly possible."1 The Fourth Lateran Council (1215) gives the classical formulation: the faithful "must confess all their sins ... to their own priest at least once a year."2 The Protestant historian of penance, H. C. Lea, calls this "the most important legislative act in the history of the Church,"3 partly because a legislated confession is not free. The Council of Flor­ ence (1438-45) modified the Lateran decree; integrity is defined as "all the sins one remembers."4 Luther objects that even this is an impossible task, like "counting the sands," endlessly numbering and weighing sins, detailing their circumstances, thus leading to torments of conscience, ending in de­ spair.5 Though Luther himself retains the catalogue of sins as an aid to the examination of conscience,6 as does Melanchthon,7 both cite Psalm 19:13: "Who knows how often one sins?"8 No command exists for 1 Sin and Confession on the Eue of the Reformation (Princeton, Ν J.: Princeton Univ., 1977) 109.