the mystical theology of valentin weigel - DataSpace at Princeton ...

Weigel that links his belief that that the testimony of the individual should be suppressed
in favour of peaceful coexistence with the notion of Gelassenheit.
In the Gespreche, a layman with unorthodox opinions openly confesses his beliefs
to his priest, lamenting that, though he has often gone to confession, his heart receives no
peace and consolation and he believes therefore that confessing to a priest is not
effective. 364 The priest responds by asserting the authority vested in him as a pastor
(Seelsorger), who has been charged by God himself with the task of forgiving sins. The
two trade arguments about whether the layman should even be sitting in the confessional
at all (the priest pro and the layman contra) until the layman flat-out rejects the priest’s
authority. 365 He plainly states that he does not believe the priest is authorized to act in
Christ’s place because it is nothing other than usurping the honour due to God, making
his confession and absolution a horrible lie (“eine greuliche Lugen”).
Up until this point, the dialogue might have been patterned after a didactic
dialogue such as the Schwester Katrei treatise, in which a wise-foolish “daughter” (a
Beguine) surpasses her father confessor in wisdom until eventually he seeks her out as a
364 Valentin Weigel, Ein Gespreche, wie ein Leyhe seinen Beuchtvatter uberzeuget, das der Priester an
Gottes Stadt nicht Sunde vorgebe in Sämtliche Schriften, ed. Winfried Zeller, Vol. 2, (Stuttgart: Friedrich
Fromman Verlag, 1965).
365 The exchange, including the Biblical proof texts, can be summarized thus: One should confess not to a
priest but rather to the one against whom one sinned. The layman has violated the two NT commandments,
and has not loved God nor his neighbour, and those two parties should, by rights, hear his confession. The
priest rejoins that the neighbour has no power to forgive sins, the layman responds that he does, citing
proof texts such as James 5:16 (“Bekenne einer dem andern seine suende, und betet fur einander, das jr
gesund werdet. Des gerechten gebet vermag viel, wenn es ernstlich ist.”) and others. These refer not to the
forgiveness of sins but only to the mutua reconciliatione (says the priest), without which one cannot receive
God’s pardon—which is precisely the layman’s point. However, the priest responds that one only comes to
God through a medium (“durch ein Mittel”), making the priest literally a vicar, who sits “ann Gottes Stadt.”
It is not sacrilege (says the priest), because Scripture says that Christ put Peter in charge of the keys. This is
only the literal, Old Testament way of interpreting the verse (responds the layman), rather than the spiritual
New Testament way: Christ did not give the key to Peter alone, because the key in question is actually the
Holy Spirit, which is dispensed to all believers equally.
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