Augustine, the Donatists and the Catholic Church
This article examines Augustine's role in the Donatist controversy, a fourth-century North African schism centered on questions of church purity, sacramental validity, and church discipline. Shand analyzes Augustine's theological arguments against the Donatists, particularly his interpretation of Luke 14 regarding church discipline, which shaped patristic ecclesiology and remains relevant to understanding early Christian debates on the nature and marks of the church.
"It is better indeed that men should be brought to serve God by instruction than by fear of punishment or by pain. But because the former means are better, the latter must not therefore be neglected…. Many must often be brought back to their Lord, like wicked servants, by the rod of temporal suffering before they attain the highest grade of religious development…. The Lord Himself orders that the guests be first invited, then compelled, to His great supper." This quotation is taken from...
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