- [UNTITLED]
- Acknowledgements
- List of Maps
- List of Illustrations
- Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
- Introduction
- From Patristics to Early Christian Studies
- Literature, Patristics, Early Christian Writing
- Which Early Christianity?
- Material Evidence (1): Archaeology
- Material Evidence (2): Visual Culture
- Epigraphy
- Palaeography and Codicology
- Jews and Christians
- Pagans and Christians
- ‘Gnosticism’
- Manichaeism
- Arius and Arians
- Pelagius and Pelagians
- The West (1): Italy, Gaul, and Spain
- The West (2): North Africa
- The East (1): Greece and Asia Minor
- The East (2): Egypt and Palestine
- The East (3): Syria and Mesopotamia
- Clergy and Laity
- The Biblical Canon
- Creeds, Councils, and Canons
- Church and Empire
- Women and Gender
- Monasticism
- Early Christian Apocryphal Literature
- Apologetics
- Homiletics
- Early Christian Historians and Historiography
- Martyr Passions and Hagiography
- Poetry and Hymnography (1): Christian Latin Poetry
- Poetry and Hymnography (2): The Greek World
- Poetry and Hymnography (3): Syriac
- Christian Philosophy
- Christian Initiation
- Eucharistic Liturgy
- Prayer
- Asceticism
- Penance
- Martyrdom and the Cult of the Saints
- Pilgrimage
- Interpretation of Scripture
- Doctrine of God
- Christ and Christologies
- Doctrine of Creation
- Early Christian Ethics
- <i>Instrumenta Studiorum</i>: Tools of the Trade
- General Subject Index
- Index of Persons Ancient (<i>Ancient and Modern</i>)
- Index of Biblical Citations
Abstract and Keywords
The study of penance in the early church can be challenging because of the variety of opinions among scholars; it can also be difficult because of the apparent diversity in penitential practices among the Christian communities in the first 600 years. Studies of penance have often described it in terms of its severity, rigour, or laxity. Hence, the terminology for this period should stay as close to the texts of that time as possible, so as to allow frameworks and descriptions to be the result of careful study. Some interpretations of the history of penance have presumed an individualistic appreciation of the penitential experience. Liturgy, however, was a significant dimension of the earliest Christian experience, and the communitarian and liturgical contexts for Christian penance need to be given greater importance than they have yet received.
Keywords: penance, penitential practices, eucharist, liturgy, Christian penance
Allan D. Fitzgerald, OSA, is Professor of Patristics at the Augustinian Patristic Institute, Rome.
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- [UNTITLED]
- Acknowledgements
- List of Maps
- List of Illustrations
- Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
- Introduction
- From Patristics to Early Christian Studies
- Literature, Patristics, Early Christian Writing
- Which Early Christianity?
- Material Evidence (1): Archaeology
- Material Evidence (2): Visual Culture
- Epigraphy
- Palaeography and Codicology
- Jews and Christians
- Pagans and Christians
- ‘Gnosticism’
- Manichaeism
- Arius and Arians
- Pelagius and Pelagians
- The West (1): Italy, Gaul, and Spain
- The West (2): North Africa
- The East (1): Greece and Asia Minor
- The East (2): Egypt and Palestine
- The East (3): Syria and Mesopotamia
- Clergy and Laity
- The Biblical Canon
- Creeds, Councils, and Canons
- Church and Empire
- Women and Gender
- Monasticism
- Early Christian Apocryphal Literature
- Apologetics
- Homiletics
- Early Christian Historians and Historiography
- Martyr Passions and Hagiography
- Poetry and Hymnography (1): Christian Latin Poetry
- Poetry and Hymnography (2): The Greek World
- Poetry and Hymnography (3): Syriac
- Christian Philosophy
- Christian Initiation
- Eucharistic Liturgy
- Prayer
- Asceticism
- Penance
- Martyrdom and the Cult of the Saints
- Pilgrimage
- Interpretation of Scripture
- Doctrine of God
- Christ and Christologies
- Doctrine of Creation
- Early Christian Ethics
- <i>Instrumenta Studiorum</i>: Tools of the Trade
- General Subject Index
- Index of Persons Ancient (<i>Ancient and Modern</i>)
- Index of Biblical Citations