DESPAIR AND PRESUMPTION IN LATE TWELFTH- AND EARLY THIRTEENTH-CENTURY PASTORAL CARE

The moral theologians of the late twelfth century were keenly aware of the utility of fear of hell and hope of heaven as pastoral and rhetorical tools, particularly at a time of renewed interest in bringing the laity to confession. But with the language of hope and fear came an unwelcome danger: the inexpert confessor who overstated the punitive threat of divine justice risked casting his listeners into despair, while he who promised too much by way of heavenly reward might produce a state of presumption amongst sinners. Very little advice on how to avoid or remedy these states can be found in the manuals addressed to preachers, such as summae confessorum or artes praedicandi. The struggle of navigating between the scylla of despair and charybdis of presumption can be seen, however, in exempla collections which examine how pastors should challenge erroneous understandings of divine mercy or divine justice.