Sacramental confession has been valued many as an important spiritual discipline and a major element of growth in the Christian religion. Others have sharpy rejected it. These essays provide a comprehensive treatment of the theology and practice of confession from its biblical basis, trough developments in the early church and in medieval Catholicism, to post-Reformation practice in both the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches and in the churches of the Orthodox tradition. Attention is also given to pastoral practice, the liturgical forms used and to psychological perspectives. Confession and Absolution fills an important gap and will become the standard work of reference on the subject.