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ABSTRACT the Contours of Donatism: Theological and Ideological ABSTRACT The Contours of Donatism: Theological and Ideological Diversity in Fourth Century North Africa Jesse A. Hoover, M.A. Mentor: Daniel H. Williams, Ph.D. It has been tempting for many historians of fourth century North Africa to view the Donatist church as a monolithic movement. This is not, however, an accurate picture. Donatism exhibited varied contours during its period of ascendancy in North Africa, differences in theological and ideological beliefs which often led to tension, even schism, within itself. The purpose of this thesis is to discuss these varieties within the Donatist movement. Accordingly, it will first examine the evolution of Donatism over time by comparing the concerns of the original schism with those of the movement at the Council of Carthage in 411. The paper will then turn to the great divergences which characterized the late Donatist movement by focusing on the radicals on its right and left flanks—the Circumcellions and Rogatists/Maximianists, respectively. By doing so, a picture of Donatism will be presented that truly appreciates the theological variety within the movement. The Contours of Donatism: Theological and Ideological Diversity in Fourth Century North Africa by Jesse Hoover, B.A. A Thesis Approved by the Department of Religion ___________________________________ William H. Bellinger, Ph.D., Chairperson Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Baylor University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Approved by the Thesis Committee ___________________________________ Daniel H. Williams, Ph.D., Chairperson ___________________________________ Charles A. McDaniel, Ph.D. ___________________________________ Barry A. Harvey, Ph.D. Accepted by the Graduate School May 2008 ___________________________________ J. Larry Lyon, Ph.D., Dean Page bearing signatures is kept on file in the Graduate School. Copyright © 2008 by Jesse A. Hoover All rights reserved TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vi DEDICATION vii CHAPTER ONE: Introduction 1 CHAPTER TWO: Preliminary Considerations 8 The Character of Donatism 8 Is Donatism a Socio-Economic Phenomenon? 9 Donatism as a Religious Phenomenon 18 Donatism is not Theologically Monolithic 21 Linguistic Considerations 27 The Terms “Donatist” and “Catholic” 27 “Circumcellions” or “Agonistici”? 34 CHAPTER THREE: The History and Theology of Early Donatism 36 Early History 36 The Diocletianic Persecution 36 The Outbreak of Schism 54 The Early Imperial Struggles 63 The Appeal of Donatism 73 Theological Complexity 75 The Party of Cyprian 75 The Question of Rebaptism 79 Sin and Sacraments 81 The Universal Church 84 Attempts at State Recognition 88 The Psychological Effect of the Macarian Persecution 94 CHAPTER FOUR: The Evolution of Mature Donatism 99 Overview History 99 Donatist Conceptions of Church and State 110 Donatist Opposition to the State 111 Donatist Use of State Apparatus 115 The Question of the True Church 119 Spread throughout the World? 120 Confined to Africa? 125 Eschatology 132 Free Choice 141 Rebaptism 147 iii Sin and Sacraments 152 CHAPTER FIVE: Comparisons Between Early and Later Donatism 159 The Significance of the Macarian Persecution 159 Similarities 162 Sin and Sacraments 162 Rebaptism 164 The Universal Church 165 Church and State 167 Differences 169 Church and State 169 The Universal Church 171 New Emphases 174 Eschatology 174 Free Will 176 Conclusion 180 CHAPTER SIX: Two Opposing Tendencies 182 Introduction 182 The Church of the Pure 185 Pacifist Tendencies 189 The Donatist “Collecta” 193 The Church of the Martyrs 196 The Passion of Maximian and Isaac 201 Tensions between the Two Sides 205 CHAPTER SEVEN: Agonistici 208 Introduction 208 Overview History 213 Were the Agonistici Social Revolutionaries? 219 A Religious-Based Argument 225 A Closer Look at Agonistic Atrocities 226 Agonistici and Donatists 232 A Reconstruction of Agonistic Theology 237 Augustinian Monasticism and the Agonistici 239 Linguistic Evidence 242 Inferential Evidence 249 The Witness of Contemporaries 252 The Martyrist Tendency 256 CHAPTER EIGHT: Rogatists and Maximianists 261 Introduction 261 The Rogatists 264 Overview History 264 Theological Tendencies 268 The Maximianists 274 iv Overview History 274 Theological Tendencies 285 Conclusion 291 CHAPTER NINE: Conclusion 293 BIBLIOGRAPHY 298 v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am greatly indebted to several people for the successful completion of this project. First, I am thankful to Dr. Daniel Williams, my thesis chairman, for his excellent and informative classes which provided me with the germ of this thesis, and for his encouragement and expertise, both of which were liberally bestowed on me during the course of my research. Second, to Dr. Charles McDaniel, whose aid on the grammar and general aesthetics of the paper made it infinitely more readable. And finally, to Augustine of Hippo and Optatus of Milevis, for providing almost all of the primary source materials that I have had the privilege of working with, even if in the end it was their successful suppression of the Donatist movement and its voices which made the topic of this thesis a necessity. vi DEDICATION To Katie (belle) vii CHAPTER ONE Introduction Unlike many other early schismatic movements, the Donatist Church of North Africa was fortunate enough to occupy a major place in the writings of its contemporaries. North Africans such as Optatus of Milevis and Augustine of Hippo, along with a host of other authors, both African and transmarine (to use a quintessentially Augustinian term), devoted much effort into discussing the movement. Through their writings it is possible to reconstruct much of Donatist history and theology. It is true, however, that caution must be exercised when attempting to illumine the inner life of a movement based on the observations of admittedly non-sympathetic sources. It is thus an even greater boon to modern researchers of Donatism that comparatively many Donatist primary sources have survived to provide an authentic glimpse into their worldview— from the highly-influential Book of Rules by Tyconius to various Donatist martyrologies, homilies and even world-chronicles preserved through their inclusion in Catholic polemic or under pseudonyms. While historians of the movement cannot help but feel a deep sense of loss upon reading Jerome’s statement that “many” of the writings of Donatus the Great were still extant in his time,1 or when Gennadius notes the literary contributions of several Donatist writers and mentions four extant books of Tyconius (rather than the two 1 Jerome, On Illustrious Men, 93, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 3: Theodoret, Jerome, Gennadius, Rufinus: Historical Writings, translated by Ernest Cushing Richardson (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1994), 380. 1 which remain, and one painfully reconstructed at that),2 the records which have survived are quite excellent in comparison with other schismatic movements of that time-period.3 It was for good reason that the Donatist Church was given such preeminence in the writings of contemporary polemicists, for at its apex it constituted the primary feature of the North African ecclesial landscape. Indeed, it was often the Catholics who were, for much of the history of this time period, a minority group.4 Nevertheless, the faction which ultimately prevailed was the Catholic side, and it was their works which for the most part survived to tell the tale of the “inveterate schism.”5 The most widespread perception of the movement for the greater part of its subsequent treatment in history has been the viewpoint of the victors: Donatism has been viewed as an intractable, monolithic movement characterized by unnecessary rigorism and violent excess, a particularly disagreeable if relatively short-lived schismatic disturbance. It is interesting to note that just as scholarship today highly distrusts the surface impression of Donatism as narrated by its Catholic opponents, for many years the situation was the other way around: no statement of the Donatists was to be taken seriously without Catholic corroboration. The late nineteenth-century historian Karl von Hefele provides an interesting example of this phenomenon. While he was a product of the progressive Tubingen 2 Gennadius, On Illustrious Men, 4, 5, and 18, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 3: Theodoret, Jerome, Gennadius, Rufinus: Historical Writings, translated by Ernest Cushing Richardson (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1994), 386-87, 389. The two works of Tyconius which survive today are the Book of Rules and the Commentary on Revelation, the latter of which has been preserved in fragmentary form through numerous allusions and quotes by later authors. 3 Compare for example the paucity of Novatianist or Luciferian primary sources. 4 See W. H. C. Frend, “Donatus “paene totam Africam decepit”: How?” in Journal of Ecclesiastical History 48 (October, 1997), 611 for a discussion of Donatist numerical strength. 5 See Augustine, Contra Cresconium Grammaticum Donatistam Libri IV, II.8.10, in Patrologiae cursus completus, Series Latina, Vol. 43.445-594, edited by Jacques Paul Migne (Paris, 1844-94), 472. 2 school of thought, Hefele viewed Donatist records as inherently untrustworthy and the movement itself as a “miserable schism.”6 Two passages in particular may serve to highlight how such an attitude affected an excessive hermeneutic of suspicion in regards to Donatist testimony. In the History of the Councils of the Church, Hefele notes the
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