Sacred Violence: African Christians and Sectarian Hatred in the Age of Augustine

931 Pages·2011·5.73 MB·English

by  Brent D. Shaw

SACRED VIOLENCE
One route to understanding the nature of specifically religious vio-
lence is the study of past conflicts. Distinguished ancient historian
Brent D. Shaw provides a new analysis of the intense sectarian bat-
tlesbetweentheCatholicandDonatistchurchesofNorthAfricain
Late Antiquity, in which Augustine played a central role as Bishop
of Hippo. The development and deployment of images of hatred,
includingthoseoftheheretic,thepagan,andtheJew,andthemodes
by which these were most effectively employed, including the oral
world of the sermon, were critical to promoting acts of violence.
ShawexploreshowtheemergingecclesiasticalstructuresoftheChris-
tian Church, on one side, and those of the Roman imperial state,
on the other, interacted to repress or excite violent action. Finally,
the meaning and construction of the acts themselves, including the
Westernideaofsuicide,areshowntoemergefromtheconflictitself.
brent d. shawistheAndrewFlemingWestProfessorofClassicsat
PrincetonUniversity.Hehaspublishedwidelyontheregionalhistory
oftheRomanempire,withparticularemphasisontheNorthAfrican
provinces and the problem of violence in its historical contexts, in
majorjournalsincludingtheJournalofRomanStudies,Past&Present,
and the American Historical Review. He has also co-authored a new
worldhistorytextentitledWorldsTogether,WorldsApart().

SACRED VIOLENCE
African Christians and Sectarian Hatred in
the Age of Augustine
BRENT D. SHAW
cambridge university press
Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,
Singapore,Sa˜oPaulo,Delhi,Tokyo,MexicoCity
CambridgeUniversityPress
TheEdinburghBuilding,Cambridgecbru,UK
PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/
(cid:2)c BrentD.Shaw
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished
PrintedintheUnitedKingdomattheUniversityPress,Cambridge
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata
Shaw,BrentD.
Sacredviolence:AfricanChristiansandsectarianhatredintheageof
Augustine/BrentD.Shaw.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn----(hardback)
.Christianity–Africa–History. .Africa,North–Churchhistory.
.Violence–Religiousaspects–Christianity. .Churchhistory–Primitiveand
earlychurch,ca.–. .Donatists. .Augustine,Saint,BishopofHippo. I.Title.
br.s 
′.–dc 
isbn----Hardback
isbn----Paperback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceor
accuracyofurlsforexternalorthird-partyInternetwebsitesreferredto
inthispublication,anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuch
websitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
Shauna
devotissimoanimo
Vengeanceismine–Ishallrepay(Romans:)

Contents
Listofabbreviations pageix
Listofmaps xi
Acknowledgments xii
Introduction 
 Thisterriblecustom 
 Churchofthetraitors 
 Apoisonousbroodofvipers 
 Archivesofmemory 
 Thecityofdenial 
 Ravensfeedingondeath 
 Littlefoxes,evilwomen 
 Guardiansofthepeople 
 Inthehouseofdiscipline 
 Singanewsong 
 Kingsofthisworld 
 Wechoosetostand 
 Athletesofdeath 
 Badboys 
 Menofblood 
vii
viii Contents
 Divinewinds 
 Sowhat? 
AppendixA:BishopsandbishopricsinAfrica:thenumbers 
AppendixB:Originsofthedivision:chronology 
AppendixC:TheCatholicconferenceof348 
AppendixD:TheEdictofUnityandthePersecutionof347 
AppendixE:ThemissionofPaulandMacarius 
AppendixF:Historicalfictions:interpretingthecircumcellions 
AppendixG:Thearchaeologyofsuicide 
AppendixH:Africansermons 
Bibliography 
Index 
Abbreviations
Allperiodical,serial,andcollectionabbreviations,otherthanthosenoted
below,aretakenfromthestandardlistinL’Ann´eephilologique.
AASS ActaSanctorum,Antwerp,Socie´te´desBollandistes,–
AfrRom L’Africaromana,AttidelConvegnidiStudio,Sassari,–
AtlArch S. Gsell, Atlas arch´eologique de l’Alg´erie, Paris, Gouverne-
ment ge´ne´rale de l’Alge´rie,  (reprint: Osnabru¨ck, O.
Zeller,)
AugLex Augustinus-Lexikon,ed.C.Mayer,Basel,Schwabe,–
BA Biblioth`equeAugustinienne:OeuvresdesaintAugustin,Paris,
Descle´edeBrouwer,–
CCL Corpus christianorum, series Latina,Turnhout, Brepols,
–
CIL CorpusInscriptionumLatinarum,Berlin,–
CLE CarminaLatinaEpigraphica,vols.,Leipzig,–ed.F.
Buecheler;E.Lommatzsch,Supplementum,Leipzig,
CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, Vienna,
Tempsky,–
CTh T. Mommsen and P. M. Meyer eds., Theodosiani libri
XVI cum Constitutionibus Sirmondianis et Leges Novellae
ad Theodosianum pertinentes,  vols., Berlin, Weidmann,

DACL Dictionnaire d’arch´eologie chr´etienne et de liturgie, ed. F.
CabrolandH.Leclercq,Paris,LetouzeyetAne´,–
DHGE Dictionnaired’histoireetdeg´eographieeccl´esiastiques,ed.A.
Baudrillart,Paris,LetouzeyetAne´,–
GCC GestaconlationisCarthaginiensisanno411,ed.S.Lancel(see
textss.v.ChurchCouncils)
GCS Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten drei
Jahrhunderte,LeipzigandBerlin,Akademie-Verlag,–
ix