Confess Your Sins: The Way of Reconciliation

By: John Stott

Narrated by: Trevor Thompson

Length: 3 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

An evangelical classic for a new generation of Christian listeners. Back for the first time in many years, John Stott's classic treatise on confession discusses a neglected Christian practice. Though the Bible clearly teaches that confession is a necessary part of the redemption story, many Christians are uncertain how and to whom they should confess their sins. Stott offers vital answers in Confess Your Sins: The Way of Reconciliation.

After presenting the necessity of confession, Stott distinguishes between three types of confession - in secret to God, in private to a person whom our sin has injured, and in public in the presence of a Christian congregation. He shows how this threefold distinction is biblically grounded, and he critically examines the practice of confessing to a priest. Offering assurance of forgiveness to Christians, this audiobook opens the door to fruitful conversation about the practice of confession.

©2017 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (P)2017 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Great Overview of a Protestant View of Confession

Note: I received a copy of the audiobook from the publisher in order to review. The publisher had no control over the content of my review.

In this work, Stott, a 20th-/21st-century evangelical Anglican priest, discusses confession of sin. In the first part of the book, he focuses on confessing your sin to God, confessing your sin to someone you have wronged, and confessing your sin to the church. The second part of the book critiques confession to a priest as you have in Roman Catholic theology. Stott spends a bit of time arguing against this view from an evangelical Anglican perspective, often quoting the Book of Common Prayer and other Anglican theologians, such as Hooker. For the most part, Stott bases his argumentation in the book on discussions of Scripture passages.

The narrator was very easy to listen to, and his tone and style of speaking worked very well for the content of the audiobook. He did not distract from the content of the book.

Overall, the audiobook was enjoyable to listen to. Stott makes his argument logically, so it is easy to follow while listening. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a short discussion of the place of the confession of sin in the life of a Christian.

A well-argued reformed Anglican presentation

Stott gives a good overview of biblical confession before turning to Catholic and anglo-catholic arguments for the necessity of confession to a priest, highlighting the problems with such a practice.

A worthwhile listen

A well argued and well written book, helpful and direct. The quality of the narration of this audiobook edition is excellent.

A Helpful Review of Anglican Confession

With a solid [academic] narration, this book explores the Biblical foundations for confession and how it evolved into what we see today. The primary emphasis is within the Protestant Reformation (specifically the Anglican tradition) and how it contrasts with the Sacrament of Reconciliation within the Catholic tradition. In particular, he takes exception with the idea that auricular confession to a priest should be common/routine and the function of the priest (rejecting the idea that the priest is functioning en persona christi). What was surprising to me was the call to restore "private" confession to the individual against whom the trespass/sin was committed ...

I was given this free review copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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