Synderesis, the Spark of Conscience, in the English Renaissance

It is a remarkable fact that Jerome's single citation of a Greek word in his commentary in the year 415 on Ezekiel's inaugural vision led to a medieval transformation and redefinition of the European idea of conscience that would endure until the late seventeenth century. Although it has been argued that his reference to synteresis (later transliterated into Latin and English as synderesis or synteresis) was simply a scribal error, it is also possible that he appropriated the word from a now lost source when he added a fourth element to Plato's tripartite soul in his interpretation of Ezekiel's description of the throne of God. Whatever the origin of the word, however, the concept expressed by it appears to have filled a logical need, which probably accounts for its thorough development and elaboration during the Middle Ages by a series of commentators from Peter Lombard to Jean Gerson.1 Their treatment of synderesis over three centuries established its general definition, posed a set of attendant logical and psychological problems, invented a supplementary terminology, and expanded its rhetorical meaning through biblical exegesis. Synderesis played an essential role in the scholastic analysis of man's conscience, of his thinking about moral matters, and of his psychological response to conflicting impulses. Stoic and Patristic in its ancient origins and subse-