Cyprian of Carthage's Writings From The Rebaptism Controversy: Two Revisionary Proposals Reconsidered

Abstract

Two recent studies have argued for revising the dates and sequential order of Cyprian's writings from the rebaptism controversy, thereby modifying the accepted narrative of the controversy. Professor J. Patout Burns (2002) places the letter to Magnus, traditionally dated to the outbreak of the controversy in 254, after the spring synod of 256, on the basis that it shares certain scriptural texts and images with other letters from that period. Professor Stuart G. Hall (2004) rejects the accepted view that the Textus Receptus of the De unitate was written at the climax of the rebaptism controversy in 256, arguing that shared scriptural citations with the rebaptism letters provide an insufficient basis for positing a relationship. These conflicting views present us with a methodological dilemma: to what extent can we rely upon Cyprian's use of Scripture in determining the date and order of his rebaptism writings? I shall argue that Burns and Hall have made too much and too little, respectively, of the criterion of shared scriptural citations/allusions and we would do well to find a via media. I shall affirm the traditional dates of the letter to Magnus and the Textus Receptus, demonstrating that the use of particular texts and images is a significant, but not determinative, factor in the dating of Cyprian's writings from the controversy.