A QUEST FOR GRACE OVER INTEGRITY IN THE SCHISM OF NORTH AFRICAN CHURCH 400-500 AD: A LESSON FOR THE 21st CENTURY CHURCH

摘要

Grace and integrity played a great role in the controversy between the official church of North Africa and Donatism in the 4th and 5thcenturies AD. Donatism which name emerged from one of its strong proponents Donatus, set the entire North Africa Church in convulsion in her quest for a pure and holy church rather than a mixed church under the grace of God. Its stern position over grace and integrity appears to be an ideological problem which the church was moved to contend with. This move led to a serious clash between the official church and the Donatists. In order to bring an end to the clash, it took the intervention of several Church Councils in collaboration with the Imperial Authority. In their pursuit for a holy church, the Donatists maintained that all lapsed believers during persecution that intend to return to the church should be treated as unbelievers before they should be admitted in the church. By this position, the lapsed must repent, confess, and be re-baptized as a necessary condition to be reinstated in the church. In addition, there was no room for any former lapsed Pastor/Bishop or believer to serve as Pastor/Bishop when restored to the fold. But the official church under the intellectual prowess of St. Augustine denounced this position and presented grace as the ultimate means to handle casualty of faith in their struggle to earn salvation and not integrity.However, as the Donatists were recalcitrant and pertinacious, the church in collaboration with the state used the power of sword to silence them. The situation led to a tragedy and subsequently a total collapse of the church in North Africa in the 13th and 14thcenturies AD. This article employs historical and biblical methods to showcase the relevance of grace over integrity in handling casualty of faith in the quest for salvation in the 21st century