Enduring Shame as Costly Signalling: The Case of Public Confession of Sin According to Tertullian

Resource added
How to Cite: Roitto, R. (2018). Enduring Shame as Costly Signalling: The Case of Public Confession of Sin According to Tertullian. Journal of Cognitive Historiography, 4(1), 60–78. https://doi.org/10.1558/jch.17704

Full description

This article analyses public confession of sins according to Tertullian (160-225 CE) as an emotionally and socially costly signal of commitment to a religious group, early 3rd century Christianity in Carthage. Here "public" means "before the community of believers" rather than "before society in general". What group dynamic functions did the ritual have and why did people accept undergoing the shame of public confession of sins?

  • type
    Image
  • created on
  • file format
    jpeg
  • file size
    76 KB
  • container title
    Journal of Cognitive Historiograpy
  • creator
    Rikard Roitto
  • issn
    ISSN 2051-9680 (online)
  • issue
    4.1
  • publisher
    Equinox Publishing Ltd.
  • publisher place
    Sheffield, United Kingdom
  • doi
    https://doi.org/10.1558/jch.17704