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Books by Eric Fournier

Heirs of Roman Persecution. Studies of a Christian and para-Christian Discourse in Late Antiquity, 2019

The subject of this book is the discourse of persecution used by Christians in Late Antiquity (c.... more The subject of this book is the discourse of persecution used by Christians in Late Antiquity (c. 300-700 CE). Through a series of detailed case studies covering the full chronological and geographical span of the period, this book investigates how the conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity changed the way that Christians and para-Christians perceived the hostile treatments they received, either by fellow Christians or by people of other religions. A closely related second goal of this volume is to encourage scholars to think more precisely about the terminological difficulties related to the study of persecution. Indeed, despite sustained interest in the subject, few scholars have sought to distinguish between such closely related concepts as punishment, coercion, physical violence, and persecution. Often, these terms are used interchangeably. Although there are no easy answers, an emphatic conclusion of the studies assembled in this volume is that "persecution" was a malleable rhetorical label in late antique discourse, whose meaning shifted depending on the viewpoint of the authors who used it. This leads to our third objective: to analyze the role and function played by rhetoric and polemic in late antique claims to be persecuted. Late antique Christian writers who cast their present as a repetition of past persecutions often aimed to attack the legitimacy of the dominant Christian faction through a process of othering. This discourse also expressed a polarizing worldview in order to strengthen the group identity of the writers' community in the midst of ideological conflicts and to encourage steadfastness against the temptation to collaborate with the other side.

Papers by Eric Fournier

Women in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages: Studies from Western Europe and North Africa, 2025

Women are often invisible in historical sources even when they were present in history. When, in ... more Women are often invisible in historical sources even when they were present in history. When, in 474 CE, the Vandal king Huneric captured Nicopolis, near Actium on the Southern edge of Epirus, in order to gain leverage in his upcoming diplomatic negotiations with an Eastern Roman embassy that he knew was on his way to Carthage, we see no trace that women were involved; but they were most certainly there. A fragment of the historian Malchus reports that the Eastern ambassador, Severus, rejected the various gifts that the Vandal ruler later offered him, 'saying that instead of these things the most fitting gift for an envoy was that the captives be handed over to him'. 1 Malchus reports Huneric's reaction, to the effect that The Vandal praised the man's attitude and said, 'All of the prisoners which I and my sons obtained in the division of the spoils I hand over to you, and, as for the portion which my followers received, you are free to buy these from their owners, if you so wish and they are willing to sell...' Thereupon Severus straightaway freed as a gift those whom the Vandal held and, offering by public herald all his money, clothes and equipment, bought back those other prisoners whom he was able. 2

The Making of Saints in Late Antique North Africa, ed. by S. Panzram and N. Klinck (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 2024), 2024

The paper analyzes the continuous use of martyrological discourse in texts of the Vandal-era thro... more The paper analyzes the continuous use of martyrological discourse in texts of the Vandal-era through the lens of cultural trauma and cultural memory theories. It argues that intertextual allusions to earlier martyrological texts constituted a weapon in the arsenal of disempowered Christians to attack empowered rival Christian factions (in this case Homoians). The theoretical framework helps better explain the continual use of martyrological literature at a time when persecutions of Christians (documented by this literature) had officially ended.

Studies in Late Antiquity, 2024

Following Valens’s defeat at the hands of the Goths at the Battle of Adrianople in August 378 and... more Following Valens’s defeat at the hands of the Goths at the Battle of Adrianople in August 378 and immediately before Alaric’s sack of Rome in August 410, both Gratian and Honorius issued temporary forbearance measures that relaxed the otherwise coercive religious policies against Donatists in North Africa. The present article analyzes these episodes as case studies in how the late Roman government reacted to disasters and crises in the religious sphere. These episodes are particularly puzzling because they go against the tendency of increasing coercion against schismatics and heretics expressed in late Roman laws and imperial propaganda. The article argues that late Roman religious policy that attempted to enforce theological orthodoxy was mainly the product of episcopal lobbying and petitions, and therefore it could be suspended when more pressing concerns, such as the loyalty of a crucial province for the food supply of the city of Rome, hung in the balance.

The Palgrave Handbook of African Christianity from Apostolic Times to the Present. Andrew Barnes and Toyin Falola, eds. London: Palgrave, 2024. ISBN: 9783031482694, 2024

This study presents an outline of the history of Christianity in the Maghreb during “long late an... more This study presents an outline of the history of Christianity in the Maghreb during “long late antiquity,” roughly 180-700 CE. In examining this history through the lenses of movements and community, it centers attempts at building community, consensus, and identity alongside responses and reactions to those attempts. In surveying the various controversies that contested them—Donatism, Arianism, the Three Chapters—the study follows a central thread at the heart of these early African Christian communities: the martyrs and their legacy. By approaching this history through the work of post-colonial scholars, this study examines these communities within the colonized landscape of the Roman Empire in the Maghreb. The picture that emerges presents a set of robust, assertive, and self-confident communities, firmly rooted in African identities, seeking to delineate their collective belonging while navigating a colonial (and then post-colonial) landscape defined by the memories and narratives of persecution. As such, readers will find an introduction to the major events and figures situated within an up-to-date understanding of the history of the late antique Maghreb.

Vetera Christianorum 61, 2024

The Bible in Christian North Africa. Vol. 2: Consolidation of the Canon to the Arab Conquest (ca. 393 C.E. to ca. 650 C.E.), ed. J. Yates and A. Dupont. The Reception and Interpretation of the Bible in Christian North Africa, 4/2. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2023

Introduction and Argument In Book 3 of In Defense of the Three Chapters, in a section where he de... more Introduction and Argument In Book 3 of In Defense of the Three Chapters, in a section where he defends Theodore of Mopsuestia (one of the theologians accused during the Three Chapters conflict against Justinian), Facundus inserts a quote: "how did the creator of angels need consolation from an angel? As the apostle said: 'in him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible.'" 2 Quotations such as this one, typically from theologians who themselves quote Scripture, abound in Facundus' text. 3 What is surprising, in this instance, is that the author of this quoted text was Emperor Justinian (reigned 527-565 CE). 4 Indeed, this example highlights a novelty of Justinian's reign, the fact that the Emperor considered himself a theologian (almost) on the same level as the Christian bishops, and as such frequently cited scriptural passages in order to support the theological points he made in his writings. 5 Of course, it is doubtful that Justinian composed these texts entirely by himself. 6 But this nuance most likely did not matter to Facundus and other Western opponents of Justinian's ecclesiastical policies. What mattered, and probably constituted a central factor in the Three Chapters conflict (on which see the Background and Context section below), was that Justinian issued these words under his name as 1 Throughout I cite Facundus, Pro Defensione Trium Capitulorum, only with references to passages without author and title, using the following edition: A. Fraïsse-Bétoulières, Facundus d'Hermiane. Défense des Trois Chapitres (À Justinien), SC 471, 478-9, 484, 499 (Paris: Cerf, 2002-2006). Translations are my own unless otherwise noted. My most sincere thanks to Ben Popp and Celine Butler for helping to compile and study the biblical passages found in Facundus. The Drayer Fund of the History Department and a Research and Creative Activities Grant from the College of Arts and Humanities at West Chester University of Pennsylvania generously supported their work. I also thank Michael Maas, Hal Drake, Leslie Dossey, Jonathan Conant, Robin Whelan and Richard Flower for reading earlier versions, providing useful suggestions and saving me from numerous errors. Mark Tizzoni particularly deserves my gratitude for reviewing my translations and suggesting numerous improvements. None of these generous scholars are responsible for the results and remaining errors. 2 3.3.13 (SC 478: 64): "Quomodo opus habebat angeli solatio angelorum operator? Sicut apostolus dicit: 'Quia in ipso creata sunt omnia, quae in caelis et quae in terra, visibilia et invisibilia' (Col 1:16)." 3 What A. Cameron, Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire. The Development of Christian Discourse (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991), 217, has called "The Closed Tradition": "The correct signs have been established by a chain of authorities who constitute the tradition. It is a closed tradition, formed of the Scriptures, the Apostles, the "ancient teachers" (the Fathers), baptism, and the sacraments of the church."

Migration: Rhetoric and Reality in Late Antiquity, special issue ofJahrbuch für Antike und Christentum, edited by A. Handl and S. Cohen, 2022

É. Fournier and W. Mayer (ed.), Heirs of Roman Persecution: Studies on a Christian and para-Christian Discourse in Late Antiquity (London and New York: Routledge, 2019), 2019

É. Fournier and W. Mayer (ed.), Heirs of Roman Persecution: Studies on a Christian and para-Christian Discourse in Late Antiquity (London and New York: Routledge, 2019)

É. Fournier and W. Mayer (ed.), Heirs of Roman Persecution: Studies on a Christian and para-Christian Discourse in Late Antiquity (London and New York: Routledge, 2019), 2019

Inclusion and Exclusion in Mediterranean Christianities, 400-800, ed. by Yaniv Fox and others. "Cultural Encounters in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages." Turnhout: Brepols, 2019.

Silences de l’historien, edited by C. Jouanno. Coll. “Giornale Italiani di Filologia – Biblioteca.” Turnhout : Brepols, 2019.

Revue des Études Tardo-Antique. Supplément 5: Hommages à Bertrand Lançon, 2018

The traditional interpretation of Constantine’s dealings with Donatists considers that the empero... more The traditional interpretation of Constantine’s dealings with Donatists considers that the emperor persecuted them between 317 and 321. This view rests upon the Passio Donati (BHL 2303b), which depicts soldiers violently seizing a basilica from Donatists and even causing the death of Donatus. The latter text, the only one attesting this putative persecution, was in fact written later to commemorate the martyr’s anniversary, and describes mainly the resistance of Donatists against state intervention. The article argues that this view sits uneasily with what we otherwise know of Constantine’s religious policy of tolerance, starting with the so-called Edict of Milan. Rather, Constantine’s aim was to restore control of ecclesiastical properties confiscated during the persecution of Diocletian to the “Catholic” faith, which Donatists challenged. Once the councils of Rome and Arles, and an audience with the emperor in person, validated the claims of the Caecilianist faction to represent the Catholic faith in Africa, Constantine imposed the transfer of properties by ordering his men to seize the basilica, exiling Donatists who resisted. But this does not justify the view that Constantine persecuted Donatists.

In Mobility and Exile and the End of Antiquity, edited by D. Rohmann, J. Ulrich and M. Vallejo, 51-67. Early Christianity in the Context of Antiquity, 19. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2018.

Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 2017

A close reading of sources documenting the Vandal conquest (429–39 ce) reveals that contemporary ... more A close reading of sources documenting the Vandal conquest (429–39 ce) reveals that contemporary authors did not present the event as a persecution. To be sure, they insisted on the devastation that the Vandals caused, the typical woes of war, but not on its religious motivation. The article argues that it was Augustine who, in his ep. ccxxviii, first presented a theological interpretation of the event that allowed later sources writing within the Augustinian tradition to frame the conquest retroactively as a persecution.

Karthago, 2017

En ce temps-là fut assiégée la cité d'Hippo Regius, que le bienheureux Augustin, digne de toute l... more En ce temps-là fut assiégée la cité d'Hippo Regius, que le bienheureux Augustin, digne de toute louange, auteur de nombreux ouvrages, gouvernait en qualité d'évêque. Alors ce fleuve d'éloquence, qui coulait avec abondance à travers toutes les plaines de l'Église, se tarit au milieu de son cours, et sa suave douceur si doucement dispensée se changea en l'amertume de l'absinthe […] 2 .

Clerical Exile in Late Antiquity, ed. J. Hillner, J. Enberg, and J. Ulrich. Frankkfurt: Peter Lang, 2016.

As episcopal banishment became the normative sentence for bishops in the 4 th century, a rhetoric... more As episcopal banishment became the normative sentence for bishops in the 4 th century, a rhetoric of exile came to express the symbolic understanding of this measure through amputation metaphors. Blending three older strands (philosophical, religious, and political) of medical metaphors, this discourse continued a traditional concern for purity and pollution in Roman religion.

Clerical Exile in Late Antiquity, ed. J. Hillner, J. Enberg, and J. Ulrich. Frankkfurt: Peter Lang, 2016.

Constantine's use of clerical banishment followed precedents in respecting their immunity to phys... more Constantine's use of clerical banishment followed precedents in respecting their immunity to physical coercion. It also deferred to bishops to adjudicate their own disputes, through councils, which lacked means to enforce their decisions. Exile was thus the optional civil enforcement of counciliar decisions and the harshest sentence Constantine was willing to use against bishops.

Shifting Genres in Late Antiquity, ed. G. Greatrex and H. Elton, Jan 2015

This chapter analyses the literary genre of Victor of Vita’s Historia Persecutionis Africanae pro... more This chapter analyses the literary genre of Victor of Vita’s Historia Persecutionis Africanae provinciae. It argues that Victor’s text is a hybrid one, since it presents the characteristics of three distinct literary genres – historiography, hagiography and apologia. These characteristics were required by the author’s intentions in compiling the Historia, as also by his perception of contemporary events. Indeed, the mysterious author of Vita regards the Vandals as indisputable persecutors and constructs a plot around the events that he describes as a repetition of past persecutions, especially the Great Persecution under Diocletian. Victor deploys certain characteristics that belong to hagiography in order to represent the Vandals as persecutors, as also some elements of the historiographical genre in order to ensure the credibility of his narrative. His presentation of documents, such as the royal edicts, for example, recalls Eusebius’ Church history, which Victor undoubtedly knew through the translation of Rufinus. His borrowings from the apologetic genre can also be explained by his perception of contemporary events as the repetition of past persecutions. The author thus, quite logically, resorts to the literary genre that had helped the Christians of the first four centuries overcome Roman intolerance and to galvanise the Christian communities against attacks by the Roman state. For Victor the only possible option in response to Vandal intolerance was to rally the ‘troops’ to face the assault, just like the Christians of earlier centuries. This chapter provides an example of the adaptation of literary genres to the new realities of Late Antiquity – the replacement of the dichotomy pagan/Christian with that of ‘barbarian’-heretic/Roman-Christian. Moreover, Victor offers an instance of the survival and transformation of a genre – apologia – usually associated with the first centuries of the Christian era and little studied in the context of Late Antiquity.