Confessions express shared norms or the renunciation of them. To confess oneself is an important communicative act and a cultural technique which brings about identity and order. But who makes a confession from which motivations? And are there traditional practices and narratives of confessions? How can one confess properly? How are confessions enacted? In this book confessions are examined from a cultural science-based perspective for the first time. With case studies from sociology and theology, cultural anthropology and psychology as well as history and art history, the book draws a line from the 4th to the 21st century.

Autorentext

Christine Bischoff, forscht und lehrt als Kulturanthropologin/Volkskundlerin an der Univ. Hamburg.

Carsten Juwig, Kunsthistoriker, forscht in Hamburg zur Bildkunst und Architektur in Spätantike und Mittelalter.

Lena Sommer, Kunsthistorikerin, arbeitet zu Bild-Text-Verhältnissen im Hochmittelalter und zur Materialität von barocken Artefakten.