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MadArchitect
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 Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 12:39 pm Post subject: Circumcellions
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During our discussion of "The End of Faith" some of us pondered over whether or not there were any historical analogues to modern day jihadist suicide bombers. I came across something of interest in R.A. Knox's "Enthusiasm", and I though I would share it.
Early in church history there was an sect in Northern Africa, related to the Donatists, called the Circumcellions, who were fairly obsessed with martyrdom. Their protest against the then infant church was that it had abandoned the tradition of martyrdom, that is, of religious protest that didn't stop short of dying in the face of persecution. Given that Roman persecution had come more or less to an end at that point, they must have had a pretty odd view of martyrdom. At any rate, they were noted for sometimes throwing themselves from the rocks in order to procure their martyrdom, and there were accusations that they would rove in gangs, carrying clubs, and would stop travellers and demand to be martyred.
Reading this, I thought instantly of our discussion in "The End of Faith". The connecting link is the desire for martyrdom. Really, all you would have needed to convert them into suicide bombers is some notion of the strategic use of martyrdom. The circumstances just weren't right -- there wasn't enough actual persecution to declare a war, and they spent most of their energy opposing the very church they sought to reform, rather than any external opponent. |
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