Epistula 93 (PL 33-321—347; and FOTC 18.56—106). My presentation relies
INTRODUCTION 17 most true mother of Christians."^' This Church existed, then, before the Donatist church and, in spite of the fact that Donatists were a considerable majority in Hippo when he became bishop there, it was the Donatists who were schismatic and deviant. To re-establish unity in the African church was one of Augustine's driving motivations, particularly in the earlier part of his episcopacy.
(20) Not only Augustine's intense desire for unity but also the fierce aggressiveness of many Donatists and their insistence that theirs was the true Catholic church provoked Augustine into a strong resistance to this schism which he believed had become a heresy because of its persistent opposition to reunion.At first he sought to reconcile the Donatists through Christian love and patient argument. While he was not adamantly opposed to the exercise of force to compel conversion, he was reluctant to see it used, and generally resisted such proposals by his fellow bishops. He had been distressed by the insincere conversions of pagans who had been forced by the Christian government to enter the Christian church and he accepted the long-held conviction of ancient Christians, a conviction especially strong in North Africa, that conversion must be a totally free choice. At first this reluctance was somewhat softened when he saw that those in his congregation who had been Donatists and had been compelled to become Catho-
57. De Morihiis Catholicae Ecclesiae et de Moribus Manichaeorum 1.30.62 (PL 32.1 336;). ^ee also, Brown, Augustine, 225.
58. The locus classicus for Augustine's later views on religious coercion is Epistula 93 (PL 33-321—347; and FOTC 18.56—106). My presentation relies heavily, but not exclusively, on Brown, Augustine, 226—243, and his two excellent essays, "St. Augustine's Attitude to Religious Coercion," and "Religious Coercion in the Later Roman Empire: The Case of North Africa," in Religion and Society in the Age of Augustine (London, 1972), 260-278, 301-331. For a brief account of the several ramifications of this topic and for an extensive bibliography of both primary and secondary sources see E. Lamirande, Church, State, and Toleration: An Intriguing Change of Mind in Augustine (Villanova. Pa., 1975). J. P. Burns, "Augustine's Role in the Imperial Action against the Pelagians," JThS n. s. 30 (1979) 67-83, discusses what part Augustine may have played with the other African bishops in provoking and supporting governmental moves against the Pelagians, thus providing additional evidence of his later views. For a very unsympathetic view see R. West, St. Augustine (New York, 1933), 130—150.