The Donatist Church: A Movement of Protest in Roman North Africa

386 Pages·1952·17.576 MB·English

by  Frend, W. H. C.

ONFLiCT between Latin anc
native civilization has been re­
current in the Western Mediter-
ranean lands for the past two thousand
years. The story of the Donatist Church
in North Africa may be interpreted as
a phase in this conflict. Donatism and
Catholicism represented two contrasting
cultures which predominated among
different communities, divided from
each other by geography and by
economic and social interest. These
factors had a profound influence on the
theology of the two Churches.
The author has discussed the back­
ground and detailed history of Dona­
tism. He has described the part played
by Tertullian and Cyprian as forerun­
ners of the movement. He has told the
story of the Donatists’ struggle against
St. Augustine, and he has thrown
light on the causes of the rise and dis­
appearance of Christianity in North
Africa. Behind the polemics of the theo­
logians, the ideas of the native Africans
remained dominated by magic and
primitive spirit-worship which have
outlasted both Christianity and Islam.

THE
DONATIST CHURCH

THE
DONATIST CHURCH
A MOVEMENT OF
PROTEST IN
ROM AN NORTH AFRICA
BY
W. H. C. FREND
RESEARCH FELLOW
UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM
O X FO R D
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
Oxford University Press, Amen House, London B.C. 4
GLASGOW NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE WELLINGTON
BOMBAY CALCUTTA MADRAS KARACHI CAPE TOWN IBADAN
Geoffrey Cumberlege, Publisher to the University
SCHOOL OP THEOLOGY
AT CLAREMONT
If'
IMOt
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
PREFACE
his work is in the main a development of a thesis written
immediately before the Second World War, on ‘The Social
and Economic Background of Early Christianity in North
Africa down to a.d. 430, with special reference to the Donatist
Controversy’.1 The writer had studied St. Augustine as his
special subject in the Modern History School at Oxford, and
had been impressed by the tenacity of the resistance of the
Donatists to the Catholicism preached by Augustine. While the
latter gained convincing victories over Manichees, Pelagians,
Arians, and pagans, the Donatists defied him and survived to the
end of Christianity in North Africa. Why was this so?
Thanks to the Craven Committee I was able to pursue my
quest, first in Berlin under the direction of the late Professor
Hans Lietzmann, and then in the Sorbonne, and finally under
the tuition of MM. Poinssot, Berthier, and Martin in French
North Africa. These gentlemen showed me every help and
kindness, and it was due to them that I was able to study the
Donatist culture in Numidia at first hand, and participate in the
excavation of a Romano-Berber village and church at Kherbet
Bahrarous. I wish to record my deepest gratitude to them and
to the other French officials, notably M. Leschi and M. Logeart,
who helped me.
The outbreak of war, however, practically put an end to these
studies. Between 1940 and 1947 I was engaged on national
service, though in 1943-4 I had a further chance of visiting
some of the Numidian sites while engaged on intelligence duties
in North Africa. My appointment, however, in March 1947 as
a full-time member of an international Board of Editors engaged
in selecting and publishing documents from the archives of
the former German Foreign Ministry, seemed to close the door
on further studies in early medieval history.
I was, however, constantly encouraged to revise my original
thesis, in particular by my former supervisor, Professor N. H.
Baynes, by the Principal of Brasenose, Professor Hugh Last, and
by the Rev. T. M. Parker of Pusey House. Two accidents enabled
me to turn to the Donatists once more. In the first place,
1 The abstract is printed in vol. xiii of Abstracts of Dissertations for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy, O.U.P., 1947, pp. 42-48.
vi PREFACE
conditions in Berlin during the Blockade of 1948 imposed long
periods of enforced leisure. I found that many people, both
British and Germans, were interested in outside studies and were
ready to help, and in these conditions I rewrote the narrative
chapters (Chapters XI to XIX) of my work. I was, however,
handicapped by lack of recognized authorities, particularly on
the African Church Councils, and in some cases substitutes in
the form of older and less complete reference works have had
to be used.
Secondly, after the transfer of the German Documents
Project to England in the autumn of 1948, the work of selecting
documents, on which I was largely engaged, rapidly outpaced
the process of final editing and publication. This fact, together
with the congenial surroundings in the heart of Buckinghamshire
in which the work was being done, enabled me to rewrite practi­
cally the whole thesis without trespassing on Government time.
In the last phase, my thanks are due to my wife for her
patient work in compiling the index, to Frau Gertrud Opiela,
to Mrs. Jean Duke, and to Mrs. Ethel Willshire for their help
in typing a difficult manuscript; also to the officials of the
Clarendon Press for their kindness and aid in preparing the
work for publication; to my colleagues on the Documents
Project, particularly to Dr. Paul Sweet, for their criticism of
individual chapters; and to Professor Baynes for his help and
advice on the footnotes. During the final revision I have had,
too, the use of the Rev. G. G. Willis’s Saint Augustine and the
Donatist Controversy, a work whose value on the ecclesiastical
aspects of the controversy I am happy to acknowledge.
W. H. C. F.
NOTTINGHAM UNIVERSITY
10 November 1951
CONTENTS
LIST OF MAPS ix
ABBREVIATIONS X
INTRODUCTION xi
I. THE PROBLEM OF DONATISM: ORIGINS OF THE SCHISM I
II. CARTHAGE AND NUMIDIA 25
III. TOWN AND COUNTRY IN ROMAN AFRICA 32
IV. THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF DONATISM 48
V. NORTH AFRICA IN THE FOURTH CENTURY A.D. 60
VI. THE RELIGIOUS BACKGROUND OF DONATISM: THE
DECLINE OF PAGANISM 76
Vn. THE EXPANSION OF CHRISTIANITY IN NORTH AFRICA 87
Vm. FACTORS RELATING TO THE CONVERSION OF NORTH
AFRICA TO CHRISTIANITY 94
IX. ARFICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS IN THE TIME OF TERTUL-
LIAN, I97-225 112
X. THE AFRICAN CHURCH IN THE TIME OF CYPRIAN 125
XI. CONSTANTINE AND THE DONATIST CHURCH, 313-37 141
XH. THE CONSOLIDATION OF DONATISM, 337-63 169
Xin. THE AGE OF PARMENIAN, 363-91 193
XIV. THE RULE OF OPTATUS AND GILDO, 386-98 208
XV. ST. AUGUSTINE AND THE DONATISTS 227
XVI. THE ECLIPSE OF DONATISM, 399~4IO 244
XVH. THE CONFERENCE OF CARTHAGE, 411 275
XVUI. THE AFTERMATH OF THE CONFERENCE, 412-29 290
XIX. THE LAST PHASE: DONATISM IN VANDAL AND BYZANTINE
AFRICA 300
XX. TWO CHURCHES . . . TWO CITIES 315
EPILOGUE 333
appendix: extant donatist texts 337
BIBLIOGRAPHY ' 339
index 352
maps end