Description
Confession has always performed a complex role in society, always created mixed feelings in its practitioners. As an acknowledgement of sinfulness and guilt, it can provide immense psychological relief; but while aiming to replace remorse with innocence, its history has become inextricably intertwined with eroticism, exploitation and shame. ‘The Dark Box’ is an erudite and personal history; John Cornwell draws on his own memories of Catholic boyhood, with its obsessive emphasis on sexual purity, 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.
