Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-5wvtr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-19T02:14:25.243Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Some Notes on the Donatist Schism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2015

A. R. Birley
A. R. Birley*
Affiliation:
Dept of History, University of Manchester
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Recent work on the highly significant Donatist religious schism in late Roman Africa is reviewed, supported by an Appendix tabulating a draft chronology of Donatism. Particular attention is paid to the controversy surrounding the date and origins of the schism. The ‘revolutionary fringe’ of the Donatist movement, the Circumcellions, is also discussed, with specific reference to arguments concerning the social status of this group. A third section outlines the participation of Tripolitanian bishops of both Catholic and Donatist persuasion at the great Conference of Carthage in AD 411. The social historical importance of the extensive documentation is illustrated at several points by reference to illuminating insights into life in late Roman Africa.

Type
Articles
Information
Libyan Studies , Volume 18 , 1987 , pp. 29 - 41
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Libyan Studies 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alföldy, G. 1985. The Social History of Rome. London.Google Scholar
Barnes, T. D. 1971. Tertullian: A Historical and Literary Study. Oxford.Google Scholar
Barnes, T. D. 1975. The beginnings of Donatism. Journal of Theological Studies n.s. 26:13–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnes, T. D. 1981. Constantine and Eusebius. Cambridge, Mass.Google Scholar
Barnes, T. D. 1982. The New Empire of Diocletian and Constantine. Cambridge, Mass.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, P. R. L. 1965. Review of Tengström. Journal of Roman Studies 55: 281–283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, P. R. L. 1967. Augustine of Hippo: a biography. London.Google Scholar
CSEL = Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum.Google Scholar
CTh = Codex Theodosianus.Google Scholar
Di Vita, A. 1967. La diffusione del cristianesimo nell' interno deila Tripolitania attraverso i monumenti e sue sopravivenze nella Tripolitania araba. QAL 5:121–142.Google Scholar
Divjak, J. 1981. Sancti Augustini Opera: Epistolae ex duobus codicibus nuper in lucem prolatae. CSEL 88, Vienna.Google Scholar
Duval, Y. 1982. Loca Sanctorum Africae: le culte des martyrs en Afrique du iveme au viieme siecle. 2 vols. Paris.Google Scholar
Frend, W. H. C. 1952. The Donatisi Church: A movement of protest in Roman North Africa. Oxford. (Reprinted 1971, 1985).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frend, W. H. C. 1985. Third impression of Frend 1952.Google Scholar
Frend, W. H. C. and Clancy, K. 1977. When did the Donatist schism begin? Journal of Theological Studies n.s. 28: 104–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gottlieb, G. 1978. Die Circumcellionen. Bemerkungen zum donatistischen Streit. Annuarium Historiae Conciliorum 10: 1–15.Google Scholar
ILS = Dessau, H., Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae. Berlin, 1892–1916.Google Scholar
Jones, A. H. M. 1974. The Roman Economy: Studies in Ancient Economic and Administrative History. (Ed. Brunt, P. A.), Oxford.Google Scholar
Lancel, S. 1972/1975. Actes de la conférence de Carthage en 411. I: Introduction générale. II: Texte et traduction de la capitulation générale (Sources chrétiennes 194–5). III: Texte et traduction des Actes de la deuxième et troisième séance (Sources chrétiennes 224). Paris.Google Scholar
Lancel, S. 1979. Les débuts du Donatisme: la date du ‘protocole de Cirta’ et de l'élection episcopale de Silvanus. Revue des études augustiniennes 25:217–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lepelley, C. 1979/1981. Les Cités de l'Afrique romaine au Bas-Empire. 1. La permanence d'une civilisation municipale. II. Notices d'histoire municipale.Google Scholar
Lepelley, C. 1980. luvenes et circoncellions: les derniers sacrifices humaines de l'Afrique romaine. Antiquités africaines 15:261–271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacMullen, R. 1966. Enemies of the Roman Order: Treason, unrest, and alienation in the Empire. Cambridge, Mass.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mandouze, A. 1982. Prosopographie chrétienne du Bas-Empire. I. Prosopographie de l'Afrique chrétienne (303–533), d'après la documentation elaborée par A.-M. La Bonnardière. Paris.Google Scholar
Millar, F. 1977. The Emperor in the Roman World. London.Google Scholar
Monceaux, P. 1901–1923. Histoire littéraire de l'Afrique chrétienne depuis les origines jusqu'à l'invasion arabe. 7 vols. Paris.Google Scholar
Munier, C. 1974. Concilia Africae a. 345–a. 525 (Corpus Christianorum series latina 259). Turnhout.Google Scholar
Sage, M. M. 1975. Cyprian. Cambridge, Mass.Google Scholar
Saumagne, C. 1934. Ouvriers agricoles ou rodeurs de celliers? Les Circoncellions d'Afrique. Annales d'histoire economique et sociale 6: 351–364.Google Scholar
Tengström, E. 1964. Donatisten und Katholiken: soziale, wirtschaftliche und politische Aspekte einer nordafrikanischen Kirchenspaltung (Studia graeca et latina Gothoburgensia 18). Gothenburg.Google Scholar
Vassall-Phillips, O. R. 1917. The Work of St. Optatus Bishop of Milevis against the Donatists with Appendix, translated into English with notes critical, explanatory, theological and historical. London.Google Scholar
Ward-Perkins, J. B. and Goodchild, R. G. 1953. The Christian antiquities of Tripolitania. Archaeologia 95: 1–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warmington, B. H. 1954. The North African Provinces from Diocletian to the Vandal Conquest. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Ziwsa, C. 1893. S. Optati Milevitani Libri VII (CSEL 26). Vienna.Google Scholar