Unity in the Early Church

Paper Summary:

This paper looks briefly at the writings of third century bishop Cyprian of Carthage who wrote extensively on what he saw was the most important issue of the day. The paper explains that this was the unity of the Church at that time. The paper provides a brief biography of his life and relevant details of his career and then examines the issues of lapsed Christians, Episcopal schisms and Biblical evidence of Unity.

From the Paper:

"The treatise entitled "De Unitate Ecclesiae," or "On the Unity of the Catholic Church," by Cyprian of Carthage is an important piece of Church history, and documents a particular problem in the early Church and the ways in which it was handled (Fitzgerald). The document reflects both the life and important issues to Cyprian, but also the dire matters of the Church that had the potential to forever affect Christianity as we know it. In order to understand this document, one must also learn about Cyprian and vice-versa. Saint Cyprian, martyr and Bishop of Carthage, in Africa, in the third century AD, converted to Christianity in the year 245 or 246, at age 47 and he became bishop only 2 years after his conversion (Giles 49)."

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