Would you tell your deepest secrets to a relative stranger? And if you did, would you feel vulnerable? Cleansed? Or perhaps even worse than you did before?
Confession has always performed a complex role in society, always created mixed feelings in its practitioners. As an acknowledgement of sinfulness, it can provide immense psychological relief; but while aiming to replace remorse with innocence, its history has become inextricably intertwined with eroticism and shame.
The Dark Box is an erudite and personal history; Cornwell draws on his own memories of Catholic boyhood, and weaves it with the story of confession from its origins in the early church to the current day, where its enduring psychological potency is evidenced by everything from the Vatican's 'confession app' to Oprah Winfrey's talk shows. Since the 16th century, seclusion of two individuals in the intimate 'dark box', often discussing sexual actions and thoughts, has eroticised the experience of confession. When, in 1905, Pius X made confession a weekly, rather than yearly ritual, the horrific cases of child abuse which have haunted the Catholic church in the twentieth century became possible.
John Cornwell's impassioned treatise on the dangers of confession is now available in paperback.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
The Dark Box is a major contribution to the Catholic church's examination of conscience about the roots and circumstances of sexual abuse. -- Eamon Duffy * The Guardian * The Dark Box is a heartfelt mixture of history, theology and memoir that feels like one of John Cornwell's most important works. Even Pope Francis could learn something from it. -- Andrew Lynch * Sunday Business Post * It's a powerful and disturbing addition to the literature on the subject, and lays bare the dysfunctional nature of a church which has still come nowhere near to facing its own self-inflicted demons. * Irish Independent * The subject is a very important one and I am glad you have tackled it. The extraordinary change with regard to the sacrament and its regular use is something that seems to have happened without serious reflection by any authoritative people in the church. So I am sure your study will help in a process of reflection that should continue in the years ahead... proper reform of the practice of the sacrament of reconciliation is necessary so that people are not deprived of its benefits. -- Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, Archbishop Emeritus of Westminster Far from being merely a history of the Catholic sacrament of confession, his book is a meticulously researched, carefully wrought and quietly furious anathema upon the Catholic Church as constituted from the Council of Trent in the 16th century up to the present day. -- John Banville * Financial Times * John Cornwell has genuinely interesting things to say about confession. -- Melanie McDonagh * Evening Standard * The Dark Box is a powerful, impassioned treatise about the dangers of confession. -- Catheriine Peppinster * The Observer * I found myself persuaded by his central thesis. The Catholic church has a sex obsession that is powered by enforced celibacy, and this sex obsession sometimes finds a perverse outlet in the dark box of confession. -- Craig Brown * Mail on Sunday * Cornwell is a humane man with a sharp intellect. -- Christopher Howse * The Telegraph * John Cornwell, who has himself chosen cautiously to return to the Church which did him some very bad turns in his youth, has much to tell it, as it seeks to find a new way forward. -- Diarmaid Macculloch * Literary Review * The Dark Box is a book that anyone concerned with the future of the Catholic Church should take very seriously. -- Peter Marshall * TLS * Deeply felt, important and powerfully expressed. -- Frank Cottrell Boyce * New Statesman *
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ISBN-13
978-1-84765-954-5 (9781847659545)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
John Cornwell is an author, journalist and Fellow Commoner of Jesus College, Cambridge. He is the author of Darwin's Angel and Hitler's Pope. He has written for publications including Sunday Times, Vanity Fair, FT, Prospect, New Statesman, Spectator and New York Times.
