RELG 330 - History of Christianity
Course Notes
Chapter 13
Pages 151-153 - the Donatists - see also pages 101-102. A "schism" (pronounced "skissms") is not caused by disputes over Christian doctrine, but by arguments about church organization, authority and discipline.
The Donatist Schism originated in North Africa, where Donatus (ca.?-ca.355) held ideas similar to those of Novatian - Christians who denied their faith under torture or persecution were to be excommunicated and could never be forgiven by the church. The Donatists wanted to be martyrs. They objected to the election and consecration of a bishop whom they thought wasn't "pure" enough, and thought that the sacraments were invalid if the priest performing them was not "pure" enough. They made Christians who had been baptized by other priests get "re-baptized" by Donatist priests (actually, one can only be baptized once). They were condemned by the Synod of Arles (AD 314) and by the Roman Emperor Constantine, so they seceded and set up their own church. Augustine of Hippo opposed their teaching, and in AD 411 the Council at Carthage condemned them. After the Muslims invaded Africa in AD 639 the Christians were marginalized and the Donatist church died out.
Page 153 - the Circmcellions got their name from circum cellas (around the dwelling/room) because they attacked houses by encircling them. They were peasants with a number of social grievances, who joined up with the Donatists as a fanatical fringe movement. They called themselves "Agonistics" (Strugglers) and claimed to be soldiers for God. They were violent fighters, but they died out by the end of the fifth century.
Page 153 - Manichaeism - see Page 81. The Manichaeans were followers of Mani (AD 216-276), a Persian who claimed to be 'the apostle of Jesus Christ', and who founded a dualistic religion of 'Light' versus 'Darkness', similar to Gnosticism.
Page 154-155 - Augustine of Hippo (354-430) was the son of a Berber (African) family with a pagan father and a Christian mother, Monica. As a teenager he joined with other students in drinking, partying and sex, and at 18 had a son with his girlfriend. He said later that one of his prayers was "Grant me chastity and continence - but not just yet."
Augustine started to get more serious by the time he was 19, and decided to become a philosopher rather than an orator. However, at that time he also came under the influence of the Manichaeans and became an ardent member of that religion.
After completing his studies, Augustine became a teacher and moved to Carthage and became a leading intellectual there. As he developed, he began to question some of the Manichaean teachings and the depravity associated with that religion. After several years he was able to meet with a Manichaean bishop, and found that the answers he had been promised were untrue - the bishop could not answer his questions about science and the universe.
In 383, at the age of 29, Augustine moved to Italy, where he became a professor at Milan and met Bishop Ambrose. He was still searching for a faith, and tried various philosophies, but found nothing that satisfied him. In 386, at the age of 31, he was sitting in his garden when he heard a child's voice saying "Tolle. Lege." ("Take up and read") - so he opened a Bible and began to read. The passage he read was from the Epistle to the Romans, chapters 12-15, particularly Romans 13:13-14 "Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof."
Augustine resigned from his teaching post and moved to the country where he could study philosophy and Christianity.
He was baptized in 387 by Ambrose of Milan and continued to grow as a theologian, seeking to bring his neo-Platonist philosophy into accord with his Christian doctrine.
In 388 (shortly after the death of the tyrant Emperor Maximus) Augustine returned to Carthage and then to his native town of Tagaste, where he sold most of his possessions and retired to a life of prayer and study.
In 391 he was persuaded to become a Christian priest, and founded a monastery at Tagaste.
In 396, at the age of 42 he was asked to help the aging Bishop of Hippo by becoming a coadjutor (assisting bishop), and for the next 34 years he was a bishop of Hippo. He transformed the episcopal residence into a monastery where the clergy lived under vows of poverty and prayer, and which served as a seminary for training a new generation of priests and bishops. So Augustine was regarded as the patriarch of the Church in Africa. He spent his days in preaching, teaching, writing, and assisting at Church councils to combat heresies and errors - which he did in a spirit of charity and forbearance.
The Western Roman Empire was beginning to collapse under the invasions of Vandals, Goths, and Huns - many of whom were Arians, and during that time Augustine wrote "The City of God" - presenting the Church as a spiritual city as distinct from an earthly city - the book was a great influence in future generations.
Page 154 - Augustine's 'common-law wife' - the term is an anachronism. In Augustine's time the relationship was better described as concubinage - she was the equivalent of a bond-servant used for sex and children, but without the security of marriage. Augustine eventually sent her away, along with their son.
The author of this section was from Scotland, where living ten years together as a couple counts as a legal common-law marriage. In the Roman Empire it did not.
Page 156 - the Pelagian controversy - Pelagians were followers of Pelagius (ca. AD 360 - ca.420), who was a British-born Christian who traveled to Rome, and was very shocked by the life-style of the Christians there.
Pelagius insisted that Christians should live very austere and pure lives. He taught an extreme view of free-will, claiming that it was possible to live without sin (thereby making Jesus' death on the Cross unnecessary for those who worked hard at being "perfect").
Pelagius and Augustine of Hippo became great adversaries of one another, as Augustine realized that Pelagius was teaching that Christ was just a "good example" for Christians to follow in order to work their way into heaven.
Alaric and the Goths sacked Rome in AD 410, and Pelagius fled and traveled throughout the Empire, eventually settling in Palestine.
He and his teaching were condemned by various bishops and Church councils. He was excommunicated in AD 418, and probably fled to Egypt and died ca. AD 420.
Copyright © 2005 Shirley J. Rollinson, all Rights Reserved
