The Power of Baptism: Augustine’s Pro-Nicene Response to the Donatists

In Tract. eu. Io. 5, Augustine preaches his anti-Donatist theology of baptism by emphasizing that Christ always retains the potestas of baptism. By focusing on the term potestas to argue that Christ, not the bishop, is the primary agent in baptism, Augustine subverts the traditional North African theological tradition that identifies potestas as the power of the bishop to impart the Holy Spirit. Augustine appeals instead to a separate pro-Nicene theological tradition in which power is a manifestation of the one divine nature through arguments of common and inseparable operations. The term potestas thus provides insight into how Augustine negotiates competing theological cultures.