Historians have long debated to what extent there was a shift in the sacrament of penance marked by the injunction at the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) for all Christians to make annual confession. It has long been suggested that in the early Middle Ages confession was primarily a collective ritual and only became individualized and interiorized in the later Middle Ages, though early medievalists have recently presented evidence challenging this view. However, the debate has hitherto paid little attention to the variety of lived experiences and social contexts of “confession,” the act or acts that preceded the bestowal of penance. Reconsideration of these aspects might help to readdress some of the issues regarding continuity and change and to explore productively an important area of religious experience for the Christian laity.

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