Priscillien. Un chrétien non conformiste. Doctrine et pratique du priscillianisme du IVe au VIe siècle (review)

In 2009 two monographs appeared on Priscillian, including the present volume in French. Another study by Marco Conti is the first complete English translation of Priscillian's works, thus making it a very different study from the one under consideration here. Both monographs, however, are testimony to how Priscillian continues to generate great interest among modern scholars in both articles and books. Insofar as this volume is concerned, a fundamental question to consider is: what does the author intend to accomplish that has not been done already in the previous voluminous articles and monographs? The book, we are informed, is only part of a doctoral dissertation—it is not indicated at which university—La 'secte' des spirituels de Priscillien d'Avila: doctrine et pratique [Priscillianisme et Manichéisme du IVe au VIe siècle], directed by Jean-Pierre Martin. The topic, however, was proposed to the author by the eminent Jacques Fontaine.

The author begins by stating that in modern scholarship there has been discord regarding the manner in which the Priscillianists and the sources have been interpreted (11). Furthermore, the author proposes to reexamine a series of questions that have not been in the author's opinion satisfactorily answered: how did this Christian group become a "heresy"? Are the accusations of Gnosticism and Manichaeism valid or only heresiological name calling (topos)? On what basis was it decided by the opposition to establish a norm for their exclusion?

The author proposes not to approach Priscillianism as a social movement but rather as a religious phenomenon. Moreover, the study seeks to establish the rapprochement, if there is one, between the teachings of Priscillian and his circle with Gnostic and Manichaean doctrines (22). So another set of questions flow out of this line of inquiry: Was Priscillian a Christian Gnostic? Does the movement reveal an existing Manichaeism in Hispania? To answer these the author considers the origins of Gnosticism and Manichaeism in the early church fathers such as Irenaeus, Epiphanius, Hippolytus, and others to establish the link of these ideas leading up to the fourth century when Priscillian emerges. Within this lengthy discussion, there is also consideration of the evolution of the terms haeresis, schismaticus, and dissension from the earliest church fathers up to their application to the Priscillianists. The most valuable section is on the usage of this terminology by the Priscillianists to defend themselves in the Tractates. The conclusion is that Priscillian and his followers condemned all manner of heresy with equal force as the church fathers and in turn Priscillian's adversaries utilized these terms to condemn him and his followers (433). Some of the noteworthy conclusions reached by the author are the following: Priscillian identified himself as Catholic and did not have any intention of founding a universal parallel church (441). His theology is heavily informed by that of St. Paul (442). Priscillian was a virtuous ascetic who along with his disciples formed a Christian elite seeking to live a saintly life (443). His teaching on the devil and the Trinity are biblical (i.e. Catholic) and their rites of baptism and the eucharist are Catholic as well. There is recognition that while there are doctrinal "tendencies," Priscillian was not a Gnostic, Manichaean, or Encratite (446-448). The author proposes, in an interesting imaginative moment, that if there existed a bibliotheca antiquorum dissidentium, Priscillian would likely be considered on the level of Lucifer of Cagliari—that is, as a religious non-conformist in late antiquity (449). The author also concludes that Priscillian developed a set of teachings that are similar in spirit to those of Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Evagrius Ponticus (449). In the end, this study in modern Priscillianist historiography falls in line with those who exculpate Priscillian of outright heresy. He was rather an ascetic who was on the doctrinal "edges" of Catholic-Orthodoxy. In my research on Priscillian, I...