Theological and Ideological Complexities
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ABSTRACT The Donatist Church in an Apocalyptic Age Jesse A. Hoover, Ph.D. Mentor: Daniel H. Williams, Ph.D. As a dissident Christian tradition that still endured sporadic Imperial persecution, the Donatist church occupied a unique niche within the wider apocalyptic milieu of late antiquity. This was an era characterized by intense eschatological speculation, spurred on by the recent political ascendency of Christianity within the Empire, the rise of rival theological communions in its wake, and mounting anxiety over the increasing tenuousness of Roman rule in the western provinces. Despite its often-overstated estrangement from the transmarine Christian communities of late antiquity, Donatism was no stranger to this phenomenon. In this dissertation, I wish to contextualize extant Donatist interaction with apocalyptic exegesis in order to see where it remained in continuity with the wider western apocalyptic tradition and where it diverged. This is a topic which will require some nuance. The dominant tendency within early and mid-twentieth century academic discussions of Donatist apocalypticism – when it is mentioned at all – have been to portray it as evidence of an anachronistic inclination within Donatist theology or as a symptom of simmering national or economic dissatisfaction, a religious warrant for social unrest. Reacting to such interpretations, more recent discussions of Donatism which emphasize its theological viability have tended to avoid the topic altogether. In this project, in contrast, I portray Donatist apocalyptic exegesis as an essentially dynamic, adaptive theological phenomenon. As befits an ecclesiastical communion which once formed the majority church in North Africa, Donatist interaction with apocalypticism was neither monolithic nor static. Rather, it evolved significantly throughout the roughly sesquicentennial years of the movement’s literary existence, capable of producing such diverse expressions of eschatological thought as the strident denunciations of the emperor Constans as “Antichrist” encountered in Macarian-era Donatist martyrological acta, the gematric calculations of the Liber genealogus – or the spectacular apocalyptic vision of Tyconius, as sophisticated as it is unique. In the various apocalyptic narratives still traceable within extant Donatist writings, I submit, we are given an invaluable window into the inner life of the North African communion. Copyright © 2014 by Jesse A. Hoover All rights reserved TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................................................... viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. ix DEDICATION .................................................................................................................... x CHAPTER ONE: Preliminary Considerations ................................................................... 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1 What is Apocalypticism? ............................................................................................ 3 A Neglected Topic .................................................................................................... 12 An Apocalyptic Age ................................................................................................. 17 The Present Study ..................................................................................................... 23 The Problem with Names.......................................................................................... 27 CHAPTER TWO: The Apocalypse that Never Was: External Impressions of Donatist Eschatology ............................................................................................................... 40 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 40 The Caecilianist Approach: Donatists as “Madmen” ............................................... 43 A War of Words .................................................................................................... 43 Wheat and Weeds ............................................................................................. 44 Epistula ad Catholicos ...................................................................................... 48 Gaudentius of Thamugadi ................................................................................. 50 The Tyconian Legacy ........................................................................................... 54 The “Archaic” Approach: Donatism as an Anachronistic Phenomenon .................. 62 The Socio-Economic Approach: Apocalypticism as Social Manifesto .................... 71 Background ........................................................................................................... 71 An Apocalyptic Interpretation .............................................................................. 76 Brisson .............................................................................................................. 76 Frend ................................................................................................................. 81 Later Assessments ................................................................................................. 83 The Revisionist Approach: Immanent Apocalypse .................................................. 86 Pamela Bright........................................................................................................ 86 Paula Fredriksen.................................................................................................... 89 Maureen Tilley ...................................................................................................... 92 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 95 CHAPTER THREE: “Antichrist Comes, but Christ is Coming After Him”: The Roots of Donatist Eschatology ............................................................................................ 97 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 97 A New Synthesis: Tertullian ..................................................................................... 99 The Memory of Martyrs: Perpetua ......................................................................... 109 v “The Storms of this Restless Age”: Cyprian........................................................... 115 New Trajectories: Lactantius .................................................................................. 130 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 142 CHAPTER FOUR: “Woe to You, World, for You are Perishing!” The Donatist Church and the End of the Age ............................................................................... 144 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 144 Donatist Martyr Narratives ..................................................................................... 147 Passio sanctorum Dativi, Saturnini presbyteri et aliorum ................................. 148 Sermo de passione sanctorum Donati et Advocati ............................................. 149 Passio benedicti martyris Marculi ...................................................................... 151 Passio SS. martyrum Isaac et Maximiani ........................................................... 155 Parallels ............................................................................................................... 158 Implications......................................................................................................... 162 Donatism Ascendant ............................................................................................... 163 Sermo in natali sanctorum innocentium ............................................................. 164 Parmenian ........................................................................................................... 168 Tyconius .............................................................................................................. 172 Donatism after the Conference ............................................................................... 183 Cavete a pseudoprophetis ................................................................................... 184 Fulgentius ............................................................................................................ 186 Gaudentius .......................................................................................................... 190 Donatist Chronologies ............................................................................................ 194 A Donatist Compendium .................................................................................... 195 Prophetiae ex omnibus libris collectae ........................................................... 195 Liber generationis ........................................................................................... 197 Liber genealogus (Sangallensis) ..................................................................... 200 Liber genealogus (Florentini) ............................................................................