Conscience
The inner voice that judges right from wrong before the act is done
Conscience is the inner moral faculty by which a person judges the rightness of acts. Paul speaks of it in Romans 2 as a witness written on the heart, Jerome reflected on it, and Aquinas distinguished synderesis, the abiding grasp of first moral principles, from the conscience that applies them to particular choices. Across the Christian tradition, conscience names the place where moral truth meets personal responsibility.
How it traveled
- RomansCorinth · 67explains
- 1 CorinthiansEphesus · 67explains
- MatthewAntioch · 80explains
- The LettersCaesarea (Cappadocia) · 379explains
- On the Duties of the ClergyMilan · 397explains
- The Homilies of St. John ChrysostomConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- Homilies on First CorinthiansConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- A Commentary on the Acts of the ApostlesConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the RomansConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Timothy, Titus, and PhilemonConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Philippians, Colossians, and ThessaloniansConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. JohnConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the HebrewsConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- Homilies on Second CorinthiansConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Commentary and Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Galatians and EphesiansConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Homilies on the Statues to the People of AntiochConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Letters of St. JeromeBethlehem · 420explains
- Expositions on the Book of PsalmsHippo Regius · 430explains
- Letters of St. AugustinHippo Regius · 430explains
- City of GodHippo Regius · 430explains
- The ConfessionsHippo Regius · 430explains
- On LyingHippo Regius · 430explains
- Against LyingHippo Regius · 430explains
- On Christian DoctrineHippo Regius · 430explains
- Our Lord’s Sermon on the MountHippo Regius · 430explains
- The Book of Pastoral Rule, and Selected Epistles, of Gregory the GreatRome · 604explains
- Selected Epistles of Gregory the GreatRome · 604explains
- Treatise on Man (qq[75]-102)Paris · 1274explains
- Commentary on GalatiansWittenberg · 1546explains
- Book Third. the Mode of Obtaining the Grace of Christ. the Benefits It Confers, and the Effects Resulting from ItGeneva · 1564explains
- Book Fourth. of the Holy Catholic ChurchGeneva · 1564explains
- Book Second. of the Knowledge of God the Redeemer, in Christ, as First Manifested to the Fathers, Under the Law, and Thereafter to Us Under the GospelGeneva · 1564explains
- Seventeen Occasional SermonsNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
- A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections, in Three PartsNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
- a careful and strict inquiry into the prevailing notions of the freedom of willNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
- Thoughts on the Revival of Religion in New EnglandNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
- Inquiry Concerning Qualification for CommunionNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
- Misrepresentations Corrected and Truth Vindicated, in Reply to the Rev. Solomon WilliamsNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
- A Dissertation on the Nature of True VirtueNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
- Fifteen Sermons. On Various SubjectsNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
Key passages(20)
On Heaven and Earth · Pope Francis
Illustrissimi: Letters from Pope John Paul I · Pope John Paul I
Journal of a Soul · Pope St. John XXIII
Book Third. the Mode of Obtaining the Grace of Christ. the Benefits It Confers, and the Effects Resulting from It · John Calvin
15. Therefore, lest this prove a stumbling-block to any, let us observe that in man government is twofold: the one spiritual, by which the conscience is trained to piety and divine worship; the other
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Treatise on Man (qq[75]-102) · Thomas Aquinas
I answer that, "Synderesis" is not a power but a habit; though some held that it is a power higher than reason; while others [*Cf. Alexander of Hales, Sum. Theol. II, Q[73]] said that it is reason its
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A Dissertation on the Nature of True Virtue · Jonathan Edwards
Of natural conscience, and the moral sense. There is yet another disposition or principle, of great importance, natural to mankind; which, if we consider the consistence and harmony of nature’s laws,
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A Dissertation on the Nature of True Virtue · Jonathan Edwards
But though men in thinking of others do as it were put themselves in their place, they do it so habitually, instantaneously, and without set purpose, that they can scarce give any account of it, and m
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A Dissertation on the Nature of True Virtue · Jonathan Edwards
But it further appears from this; if the approbation of conscience were the same with the approbation of the inclination of the heart, or the natural disposition and determination of the mind to love
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A Warning to Professors · Jonathan Edwards
Do you not, for all your attendance on ordinances, continue in the allowed neglect of your precious souls, neglecting secret prayer or some known duty of private religion? Or do you not allow yourselv
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Herein I also practice always having a conscience void of offense toward God and men.
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Book Fourth. of the Holy Catholic Church · John Calvin
1. We come now to the second part of power, which, according to them, consists in the enacting of laws, from which source innumerable traditions have arisen, to be as many deadly snares to miserable s
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Book Fourth. of the Holy Catholic Church · John Calvin
French, “entre le siege judicial de Dieu, qui est spirituel, et la justice terrestre des hommes;”—between the judgment-seat of God and the terrestrial justice of men. 4. Wherefore, as works have resp
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Five Sermons. On Different Occasions · Jonathan Edwards
Not only are no awakenings and terrors any certain evidence of this, but no mere legal work whatsoever, though carried to the utmost extent. Nothing wherein there is no grace or spiritual light, but o
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Homilies on First Corinthians · John Chrysostom
“And their conscience being weak is defiled.” No where as yet doth he state his argument about the nature of the thing, but turns himself this way and that as concerning the conscience of the person p
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in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or else excusing them)
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Seventeen Occasional Sermons · Jonathan Edwards
That the principle, which is assisted in making natural men sensible of their desert of wrath, is natural conscience. Though man has lost a principle of love to God, and all spiritual principles by th
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The Interior Life · Thomas à Kempis
THE glory of a good man is the testimony of a good conscience. Therefore, keep your conscience good and you will always enjoy happiness, for a good conscience can bear a great deal and can bring joy e
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Book Third. the Mode of Obtaining the Grace of Christ. the Benefits It Confers, and the Effects Resulting from It · John Calvin
6. This is the reason why the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews ascribes to faith all the good works which the holy patriarchs are said to have performed, and estimates them merely by faith (Heb. 1
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Homilies on First Corinthians · John Chrysostom
Homily XXV. 1 Cor. x. 25 Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, eat, asking no question for conscience sake. Having said that “they could not drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of the devils,” and
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The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans · John Chrysostom
Verse 12 assigns the ground of v. 11. “Sin brings penalty and death whether committed under the Mosaic law or under the ethical law of conscience.” The first member of the sentence (v. 12) applies to
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Modern teachers who discuss this idea
Modern and living teachers whose books take up Conscience. These works are still in copyright, so we can’t show the text here — each links out to the book.
- Pope St. John XXIIIJournal of a Soul(1965)View on Amazon→
- Pope John Paul IIllustrissimi: Letters from Pope John Paul I(1976)View on Amazon→
- Pope FrancisOn Heaven and Earth(2010)View on Amazon→