Chapter 6 Confessing in the Contexts of Dying and Narratives of Death
In: The Moment of Death in Early Modern Europe, c. 1450–1800Search for other papers by Irene Dingel in
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Abstract
The concept of „confessing“ played a critical role in early modern Protestant accounts of dying and narratives of death in the sense of the confession of sins and the confession of the faith. Differences of “confessional commitment” did not play a significant role in these accounts and in funeral sermons of the time although Lutheran sermons tended to emphasize forgiveness of sins and justification by faith, mediated by baptism and the Lord’s Supper while Reformed sermons and narratives focused more on confirmation of the sense of being among the elect predestined for heaven. Confessional polemic occurs very seldom in funeral sermons. They emphasized instead the comfort found in the gospel of Christ and served as admonition to the living to continue in the faith and perform good works, while remembering the blessings and the obedience of the departed.