A Fresh Look At Confession

David Knight was forty years a priest before he learned that priests don't hear sins in confession. "What you are really revealing is your ideals," he says. "The real you has a different set of ideals, reflecting your heart instead of your lapses. This 'you' abides with God." With these words Father Knight reveals that A Fresh Look at Confession is unlike anything you may have read about the sacrament. He speaks about the heart of confession, its meaning and mystery, and why it is so necessary for authentic followers of Christ. This is deep theology, explained in clear language. But it's also much more: Father Knight's moving, intensely personal account of his own journey as a sinner takes readers beyond theory and into the awe-inspiring reality of our complete redemption in Jesus, who does not just forgive, but who "takes away" the sins of the world. From a varied background as missionary, teacher, pastor, professor, retreat director, and campus minister, Father Knight's ministry has come to focus on making mystical experience commonplace in conscious Christian living. Book jacket.

Knight examines why our practice of the Sacrament of Reconciliation has become stagnant. And, by sketching the evolution of the sacrament, he offers us challenging insights from the past to help revitalize our celebration of the sacrament today.

People in Merit, Wisconsin, always said Jimmy was . . . you know. But people said all sorts of stupid stuff. Nobody really knew anything. Nobody really knew Jimmy. I guess you could say I knew Jimmy as well as anyone (which was not very well). I knew what scared him. And I knew he had dreams?even if I didn't understand them. Even if he nearly ruined my life to pursue them. Jimmy's dead now, and I definitely know that better than anyone. I know about blood and bone and how bodies decompose. I know about shadows and stones and hatchets. I know what a last cry for help sounds like. I know what blood looks like on my own hands. What I don't know is if I can trust my own eyes. I don't know who threw the stone. Who swung the hatchet? Who are the shadows? What do the living owe the dead?

The sacrament of Confession is probably the most talked about sacraments in the Catholic Church, as well as a spiritual practice being revived in many Protestant churches. This book explores the sacrament focusing on the two people who confess – God and the penitent. God is the primary confessor when he confesses his forgiveness for and trust in the one who is celebrating the sacrament. The gift of freedom, the existence of hell, and the role of conscience are discussed at length.Jean Vanier in his foreword says: “Somewhere, along the line, in the history of the Church, people have become more centred upon obedience to laws than upon this relationship with love with a person, with Jesus. This book flows from an understanding of Confession as a meeting of love and as a renewal of friendship.”How that friendship is renewed is explored using the Rite of Penance and St. Peter in the Gospel. This helps us understand what happens in the sacrament and how we can celebrate it. Ultimately, Fr. Paul describes reconciliation as God’s gift to us to express God’s humble forgiveness and his confidence in us and also the place where we take responsibility for our lives.

For Church leaders in the twenty-first century who subscribe to the Inerrancy of the Bible and its authority in all matters of life and practice, change is necessary for the spiritual growth of the Church. The goal is to prepare Christian leaders to obey their creed by leading through biblical guidance. In his analysis of the leadership principles and style of Nehemiah, author Dr. R. Zarwulugbo Liberty proposes a paradigm shift back to Godly leadership as exemplified by Nehemiah, who: ? Pays attention to details (Neh 1: 1-3). ? Cares for his people and country (Neh 1: 3). ? Loves God (Neh 1: 4) with all his heart, soul, mind, strength, and loves his neighbor as himself (Mk 12: 30-31). ? Prays persistently (Neh 1: 4-11) and fears God in all that he does. ? Establishes a genuine relationship with God (Neh 1: 5). ? Serves God and his people with a servant?s heart and takes personal responsibility (Neh 1: 5-6). ? Obeys God?s command and has the ability to repent (Neh 1: 6-7). ? Knows and applies God?s Word in every condition (Neh 1: 8-9). ? Believes in God?s great power of redemption (Neh 1: 10). ? Serves on God?s mission with excellence and respects authority (Neh 2: 1-2).

With the understanding that confession is a witness to the gospel, Confessing the Faith Today investigates how a sixteenth-century Reformation confession, the Belgic Confession, can assist contemporary Christians testify to the truth of Gods gracious turn toward creation and do so in the context of the twenty-first century's competing claims. A close examination of the internal coherence of the Belgic Confession, along with an exploration of how that confession might engage contemporary life, offers fresh insight into how Christians might articulate what is at stake in the gospel. Janssen encourages the church to enter a conversation with the forebears of the faith, acknowledging the historical nature of not only the confession but of God's involvement in all creation.

Confessional Crises and Cultural Politics in Twentieth-Century America revolutionizes how we think about confession and its ubiquitous place in American culture. It argues that the sheer act of labeling a text a confession has become one of the most powerful, and most overlooked, forms of intervening in American cultural politics. In the twentieth century alone, the genre of confession has profoundly shaped (and been shaped by) six of America’s most intractable cultural issues: sexuality, class, race, violence, religion, and democracy.