Donatist Controversy: The Early Church

Introduction

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.” This is one of Abraham Lincoln’s most famous quotes, and its truth penetrates many aspects of civilization, besides government. The Early Church was a house theologically divided during the time of the Donatist controversy. During the fourth and fifth centuries the Early Church was divided over the purity of the Church over the controversy known as Donatism. This division can be understood in three parts: the background of the controversy, the Donatist position, and the Catholic church’s position.

Background of the Controversy

Donatism began in Africa and was destroyed in Africa, lasting a total of over 300 years. Donatism began in the fourth century in Africa, partially as a byproduct

These views generally fell under what they thought the church should look like, and from that flowed their views on the sacraments and schism. In regards to the church, the Donatists believed that it could not consist of unholy or unclean people. They thought that spiritual potency would be lost through contact with an unclean thing or that they might alienate God from His Church. Donatists viewed the holiness of the church to be found in the individual members of the church. To the Donatists it was essential that the leadership of the church be pure in order that their teachings and followers remain pure. Geoffrey Willis stated it this way: “The Donatists laid stress on the necessity of holiness in Christians, to which they thought themselves to have the sole claim.” But they seemed to focus only on one area of uncleanliness- the sin of apostasy or “the abandonment or renunciation of a religious or political belief.” To the Donatists apostasy looked like handing over the Christian books during the Diocletian persecution. They believed that once a bishop commits apostasy “he has therefore placed himself outside the bounds of the church, and can no longer be regarded as administering the sacraments validly.” On top of that, the Bishop could never be forgiven and could not be a part of the church

They disagreed fundamentally on the Donatists’ view of the church and from that view flowed their beliefs about sacraments and schism, akin to the Donatists. Unlike the Donatists, the catholic church did not believe that the church could stay sin-free. Augustine was the most most vocal proponent of the catholic church in its battle against Donatism. He argued that the church was not meant to be a “society of saints” but instead a “mixed body” and emphasized that humans cannot pass judgement on other humans. That was God’s role and God’s role alone. According to Augustine, the holiness of the church did not refer to the individual members, but the holiness we have in Christ. It was impossible to be holy while on earth. As to the specific sin of apostasy, Augustine did not agree with the claim that traditors could not be forgiven. On the contrary, he said that through repentance, the offending bishops could rejoin the church and be forgiven. He felt that by the Donatists claiming that traditors could not be forgiven they were not doing justice to the power of Jesus’