Le problème du baptême dans le schisme donatiste

This book analyses the debate between the Catholic Church and Donatism, during the 5th century in the African provinces of the Roman Empire, concerning the heretical custom of rebaptising converts who joined their group. This quarrel moved Augustine to write De baptismo libri VII inspired by St. Cyprian’s works without overlooking the historical side of this conflict from the start. Even though the problem expresses a major theological question, it is important to get past this and study the shift from the subject to the political field. 

We then analyse the evolution of the perception of the baptismal rite and the theoretical elaboration that is implied in terms of recent political changes between the 3rd and the 5th century. This discourse expresses the subtlety of the fight to control places of institutional power between African Churches.