Being Christian in Vandal Africa investigates conflicts over Christian orthodoxy in the Vandal kingdom, the successor to Roman rule in North Africa, ca. 439 to 533 c.e. Exploiting neglected texts, author Robin Whelan exposes a sophisticated culture of disputation between Nicene (“Catholic”) and Homoian (“Arian”) Christians and explores their rival claims to political and religious legitimacy. These contests—sometimes violent—are key to understanding the wider and much-debated issues of identity and state formation in the post-imperial West.
Robin Whelan is Senior Lecturer in Mediterranean History at the University of Liverpool.
“Whelan’s writing is a joy to read. Being Christian in Vandal Africa makes a genuine and substantial contribution to a field of study that has seen a great deal of exciting activity in recent years. Whelan complements a firm mastery of existing secondary scholarship with deft and sensitive readings of previously understudied primary materials. This is a tremendous book.”—Andy Merrills, Associate Professor of Ancient History, University of Leicester
”This splendid book is, quite simply, the finest discussion of religion in the Vandal kingdom that I have read. The analysis presented here challenges us to rethink religious controversy not just in Africa but across the post-Roman West.”—Jonathan P. Conant, Associate Professor of History, Brown University
320 pp.6 x 9Illus: 3 b/w images, 1 map
9780520401433$34.95|£30.00Paper
May 2024