ABSTRACT
The history of Arianism in Africa is curious. The African Church was at something of a remove from fourth-century Christological debate. It still played an important role in the so-called Arian Controversy, but its initiatives were generally directed towards its own dispute, the Donatist schism. After Africa's conquest by the Vandals between 429 and 439, this situation was reversed. Under Vandal rule, Africa witnessed a sustained effort to turn Homoian Christianity into the orthodoxy of the new kingdom. Donatism slides out of focus as Arianism dominates the surviving Christian literature of the period. Late Roman Africa plays understudy to the movements of Geiseric's warband in the early fifth century, the broader context of barbarian Christianity, and the search for a moment of conversion. Ascriptions of persecution against orthodox Christians to heretical Christians always bear a double layer of subjectivity. This Arian persecution has cast a long shadow over Vandal Africa.
