Rome and the African Church in the Time of Augustine
Rome and the African Church in the Time of Augustine
- Author: J. E. Merdinger
- Length: 267
- Edition: Hardcover
- Publisher: Yale University Press
Description of Rome and the African Church in the Time of Augustine:
This groundbreaking book examines the vibrant North African Christian Church of the 4th and 5th centuries and its relationship to Rome. Merdinger provides a lively account of cases of canon law that arose in Africa but were adjudicated in Rome-including the notorious Apiarius affair-and shows how African Christians gradually became dependent on the papacy for enforcement of church discipline.
Information on Rome and the African Church in the Time of Augustine from the publisher:
In the fourth and fifth centuries, North Africa stood second only to Rome as a center of power for the Christian church in the western Roman Empire. Historical tradition holds that this vibrant ecclesiastical community, under the leadership of such forceful personalities as St. Augustine of Hippo and Aurelius of Carthage, maintained a spirited independence from papal control. Recently discovered letters of Augustine and a closer reading of the African canons show, however, that the African fathers willingly sought advice from the pope and often approached Rome for a final verdict in cases of canon law. In this groundbreaking book, J. E. Merdinger contends that the African church of late antiquity gradually became dependent on the papacy for the enforcement of church discipline.
Description of J. E. Merdinger, author of Rome and the African Church in the Time of Augustine:
In the fourth and fifth centuries, North Africa stood second only to Rome as a center of power for the Christian church in the western Roman Empire. Historical tradition holds that this vibrant ecclesiastical community, under the leadership of such forceful personalities as St. Augustine of Hippo and Aurelius of Carthage, maintained a spirited independence from papal control. Recently discovered letters of Augustine and a closer reading of the African canons show, however, that African fathers willingly sought advice from the pope and often approached Rome for a final verdict in cases of canon law. In this groundbreaking book, J.E. Merdinger contends that the African church of late antiquity gradually became dependent on the papacy for the enforcement of church discipline.