The Organization of the Church of Africa on the Eve of the Vandal Invasion

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3839992
AutoresR Pierce Beaver (University of Baltimore, autor correspondente)
Ano1936
Volume5
Fascículo2
Páginas168-181
Data de publicação1936-06-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoChurch History (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0009-6407 • E-ISSN: 1755-2613
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/3160527
OpenAlexW2123428716
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas9

In Saint Augustine's time two theories concerning the origin of the church of Africa were current in Africa and Italy: either the Carthaginian church had been founded by missionaries from the church of Rome or the Gospel had been brought from various eastern lands. Carthage was undoubtedly the center from which Christianity spread throughout the whole of North Africa. As the number of converts increased and the churches multiplied, the same problems of organization arose and were solved as in other parts of the Empire, and ecclesiastical administration followed the lines of demarcation used by the civil power. Under Diocletian a reorganization of the imperial administrative scheme had taken place, and the Diocese of Africa, extending from Cyrenaica on the East to the Malva and Mount Atlas on the West, was comprised of the provinces of Tripolitana, Byzacenum, Proconsular Africa, Numidia, Mauretania Sitifiensis, and Mauretania Caesariensis. The district to the West, Mauretania Tingitana, was attached to the Diocese of Spain. By the end of the fourth century the church had created six provinces following the same lines, with the exception that Tingitana, although not a part of Africa politically formed a part of the ecclesiastical province of Mauretania Caesariensis. The last province to be created was Mauretania Sitifiensis, which was granted a primate by the Council of Hippo in 393

Administration (probate law) · Ancient history · Archaeology · Canon Law · Christianity · Empire · Ethnology · Geography · Gospel · Political science · Roman Empire · SAINT · Augustinian Studies and Theology · Historical and Architectural Studies · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome · History · Law