The West (2): North Africa

Abstract

Abstract Rather than provide a continuous narrative, this article tries to bring to the fore some exceptional documents that allow the historian to go beyond the received view of the history of Christianity in North Africa. It also deliberately focuses on the literary sources, although the archaeological and epigraphic evidence is abundant. The article examines: the origins of Christianity in North Africa; Tertullian and the Christians in Carthage at the end of the second century; Cyprian and the organization of the African church in the third century; the persecutions in North Africa; the origins of Donatism; Donatist martyr stories; the Conference of Carthage in 411; interpretations of Donatism; Augustine and the limits of the Christianization of North Africa; and the end of Christianity in North Africa.