When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. ‘I have sinned’, he said, ‘for I have betrayed innocent blood’. ‘What is that to us?’ they replied. ‘You see to it’. So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. (Matthew 27, 3-5). It is not uncommon, though certainly unhealthy, for people to confuse remorse with repentance. The confused situation in which we find ourselves today also engenders confusion in theological thinking. This is clear if we take into account the huge gap between theological theory and theological experience. So, on the ...
