Synopses & Reviews
In-depth, illustrated exploration of how early North African Christians lived out their faith Using a combination of literary and archeological evidence, this in-depth, illustrated book documents the development of Christian practices and doctrine in Roman Africa -- contemporary Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco -- from the second century through the Arab conquest in the seventh century.
Robin Jensen and Patout Burns, in collaboration with Graeme W. Clarke, Susan T. Stevens, William Tabbernee, and Maureen A. Tilley, skillfully reconstruct the rituals and practices of Christians in the ancient buildings and spaces where those practices were performed. Numerous site drawings and color photographs of the archeological remains illuminate the discussions.
This work provides valuable new insights into the church fathers Tertullian, Cyprian, and Augustine. Most significantly, it offers a rich, unprecedented look at early Christian life in Roman Africa, including the development of key rituals and practices such as baptism and eucharist, the election and ordination of leaders, marriage, and burial. In exploring these, Christianity in Roman Africa shows how the early African Christians consistently fought to preserve the holiness of the church amid change and challenge.
Review
Euangelion "A necessary resource for anyone serious about the history of Christianity in North Africa."
Choice
"An intellectual tour de force. . . . Highly recommended."
Elizabeth A. Clark
-- Duke University
“Bringing together the extant literary and archeological evidence to illuminate the distinctive teachings and practices of the North African churches, Burns and Jensen’s Christianity in Roman Africa is especially valuable for its treatment of archeological and material-culture remains.”
Andrew McGowan
-- University of Melbourne
“Breaks new ground as an integrated approach to the lived reality of Christian faith in the ancient world. . . . Burns, Jensen, and their collaborators offer rich, nuanced, and sometimes surprising insights into the spiritual and material concerns of an ancient Christianity that itself soon disappeared but that has continued to wield influence ever since.”
John C. Cavadini
-- University of Notre Dame
“This is an astonishing compendium integrating history, theology, and material culture. It is really unprecedented. The theology illuminates the art, and the art in turn illuminates the theology -- and both make the history come alive, almost right before the reader’s eyes. A truly amazing achievement!”
Robert Louis Wilken
-- University of Virginia
“One of the many pleasures of this rich and rewarding volume is that it gives the reader a textured portrait of what life was like in Christian communities in the early centuries. Do you want to know how the eucharist was celebrated? Or what rituals were associated with baptism? Or how Christians were buried? Or what a church looked like from the inside? You will find answers here, all documented with literary texts and archeological data and illustrated with stunning pictures.”
Allan Fitzgerald
-- Villanova University
“A fascinating and very readable contribution to the understanding of Christian North African culture as found in texts (both pastoral and polemical), liturgical artifacts, architecture, iconography, and epigraphy. . . . Provides sweeping yet keenly perceptive and balanced overviews of the historical context in the time from Tertullian to Augustine and beyond.”
About the Author
J. Patout Burns Jr. is the Edward A. Malloy Professor Emeritus of Catholic Studies at Vanderbilt Divinity School. His other books include
Cyprian the Bishop and the Church's Bible volume
Romans: Interpreted by Early Christian Commentators. Robin M. Jensen is Patrick O'Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. She is also the author of Baptismal Imagery in Early Christianity: Ritual, Visual, and Theological Dimensions and The Substance of Things Seen: Art, Faith, and the Christian Community.