preview

Donatist Schism

Decent Essays

Christianity in Africa is not a recent happening nor is it a product of colonialism if we go back to the very time of the apostle. Christianity in most area was confronted during the centuries after the struggle by Islam, the Christian religion suffered in some measure, but did not disappear. Christianity has been flourishing on the northern part of this continent for years before Islam was born. Christianity in North Africa seemed to have been well founded deeply entrenched and firmly led.
My research will mostly examine the Donatist schism and the violent episodes of the Donnatists that led up to the cause of the great civil war between the religions and the role that the Circumcellions played. We see that the religion Donatism played a …show more content…

They joined the ranks of the Donatists, and were called by them agnostici and "soldiers of Christ.” Troops of them were to be met in all parts of Africa. They had no regular occupation, but ran about armed, like madmen. They did not use any swords or other weaponry, on the ground that St. Peter had been told to put his sword into its sheath; but they did continual acts of violence with clubs, which they called "Israelites". They bruised their victims without killing them, and left them to die.” The role of the Circumcellions was very straightforward and that was to go after anyone who supported anything that dealt with Christianity or Catholicism. It is said in Brent D. Shaw’s book “Sacred Violence” one of the main sources that will be closely looked at in this paper is that “these same armed circumcellions even set ambushes on the public roads for Augustine, the servant of God, when he happened to go on the road after he had been asked to visit, to instruct, and to exhort various catholic congregations”
The sources that will be closely evaluated in this paper will be “Sacred Violence” written by Brent D. Shaw, “The Donatist Church” written by W.H.C. Frend, “Violence in Late Antiquity: Perceptions and practices” written by Harold Allen Drake, one of the last secondary sources that will be mentioned and quoted in this paper will be “Donatist Martyr …show more content…

Shaw we see that he discusses a lot about and quite frankly more of The Diocletian persecution which I just touched on above in the background, to reiterate this persecution it was one of the main causes of the schism and so happens that could have been the rising point for tension and violence within the Roman Community against the religions. Shaw’s main intention of writing his book was to see how both Catholics and the dissidents collectively remembered their pasts and how this memory informed their actions. Shaw also argued many points in his book, one of them is that the popular idea of late antique Africa as an extremely rebellious province of the Roman Empire needs revision. He touched on that Africa was less violent than many other provinces. The major revolts that took place in the fourth and fifth century were led by the Comites Africae Firmus, Gildo and Heraclius, were not so much nationalist. There’s an interesting part in the introduction where Shaw says that he has “encountered a history of hate- a story of intimate dislike that was motivated by the profound love for one’s own people, belief, communities, and traditions.” Augustine is highly mentioned in this source but Shaw stated that his book was not a study about one individual person and his ideas. Shaw goes over a lot of detail that Augustine had been a main focus of hatred of his generation. “it was a matter of bishops, literary elites, imperial

Get Access