Prophets and Gravestones: An Imaginative History of Montanists and Other Early Christians (review)

William Tabbernee is no stranger to Montanism, that prophetic and charismatic movement within Christianity, which emerged in the second century and continued in existence, although increasingly excluded from the Church, until into the sixth century. Indeed, his previous monographs—Montanist Inscriptions and Testimonia: Epigraphic Sources Illustrating the History of Montanism (Macon, GA, 1997) and Fake Prophecy and Polluted Sacraments: Ecclesiastical and Imperial Reactions to Montanism (Leiden, 2007)—put him at the forefront of Montanist scholarship. With this present volume he brings his sense of geography and location to bear on the historical and epigraphic evidence, but in a way that is unlike anything he or other scholars have written before. The book provides an account of Montanism over four hundred years and how it spread across the Mediterranean world, embraced by some and rejected by others as a Christian way of life.

The word imaginative in the title may puzzle some, suggesting that this is a work of historical fiction. This is not the case. Tabbernee provides a narrative account of the historical, literary, and epigraphic evidence or fleshes out existing narratives by incorporating topographical elements (along with photographs) from his own archaeological insights. What is imaginative about the book is the way he humanizes his account, suggesting the emotions of the characters and filling in the backgrounds of some of the narratives in Eusebius and others. To take a few random examples: in the account of the failed exorcism of Maximilla, one of the founders of Montanism, found in Eusebius, H. E. 5.16–19, Tabbernee suggests the trepidation of bishops Zotikos and Julian by describing the fitful sleep of one, his being awoken by his companion, the simple breakfast they share together, and the wrong turns they make as they seek out Maximilla (pp. 31–32); Bishop Victor of Rome smells the bread for Eucharist that his wife is cooking as he contemplates the reaction from Asia to his decision about the date of Easter for the Roman church (pp. 47–52), and Firmilian of Caesarea’s neighbor has a gray cat (p. 155). Each vignette in this volume is short and delightfully readable, as though Tabbernee has written the script for a television mini-series.

For the academic accustomed to the journal and monograph style of writing, some adjustment may be necessary, but at the end of each brief narrative the list of sources and the notes provide the historical grounding to assure the reader that this is not a work of fiction or even fictionalized history. Tabbernee has taken a stand on a number of debated issues, like the identity of Tertullian’s pontifex maximus, the status of Montanists in Carthage during the time of Tertullian, the identity of the Hippolytus statue and the authorship of those works listed on the statue, and the intention behind Decius’s edict. Careful attention will need to be paid to the notes by those unfamiliar with particular episodes to reveal that there is a considerable amount of scholarly debate about these issues.

There are only very few obvious errors. On page 249, for example, Honorius is said to be ruling in Rome when he spent nearly all his reign either in Milan or Ravenna.

Given that Montanism suffered the same fate as other defeated groups in that their version of events was mostly wiped from history, Tabbernee provides a sympathetic reading, helping the reader not only to grasp but also to feel the passion and the position of both Montanists and their opponents alike.