Shlomo Sand, The Invention of the Jewish People - Rafapal

REALMS OF SILENCE 201
In North Africa, as elsewhere, many of the Judaizers remained in a state
of semiconversion, or as they would later be known, "heaven worshippers"
(Coelicolae). The New Testament mentions God-fearers, Jews and proselytes
coming to Jerusalem from the "parts of Libya about Cyre'ne" (Acts 2:10). Many
syncretist sects flourished in various cities, and it was this heterogeneous
throng that gave rise to Christianity, which grew powerful in this region as in
other Mediterranean lands. Two of the leading thinkers of early Christianity,
Tertullian and, later, Augustine, were born in Africa.
The former was especially concerned about the strength of Judaism in his
native city of Carthage. His extensive knowledge of the Old Testament and Jewish
tradition indicates the strength of the local Jewish religious culture. His sharp
attacks against the proselytes also testify to the popular appeal of this movement.
He sought to explain the success of Judaism, in contrast to that of the persecuted
Christianity, by noting that it was a legal religion in Roman law, hence easier to adopt.
He showed respect for the Jews, especially the Jewish women for their modesty, but
fiercely attacked the Judaizers, arguing that they adopted the Jewish religion out of
convenience, because on the holy Sabbath they could avoid all work. 19
Evidence of Christianity's struggle against the strong Jewish presence
is found in the writings of Augustine and in those of the Christian poet
Commodianus. Augustine criticizes the "heaven worshippers," probably an
intermediate Jewish-Christian sect, whom the church regarded as heretics or
even unbelievers. In his work Instructions, Commodianus (whose exact dates
are not known) attacked the numerous proselytes and mocked their switching
and changing of religions and the blatant inconsistency of their worship.
The advance of the church was temporarily halted by the Vandal conquest.
These Germanic tribes from Europe dominated North Africa between 430 and
533 CE, where they established an Arian Christian kingdom. There is next to
no information about the situation of North Africa's Jews during the Vandal
century, but it is known that relations between the Arians and the Jewish
believers were much better than between the latter and the consolidating
Orthodox Church. The return of the Byzantine Empire to the region restored
the primacy of the church, and the suppression of heretics and unbelievers
intensified. It is quite likely that, following this conquest, some of the coastal
Jews—those former Punics—fled inland, and others moved further west. Here
began the amazing story of a new wave of Judaization.
19 His opinion of Judaism was expressed in his "Aduersus Iudaeos," translated into
English by Geoffrey D. Dunn, Tertullian, London: Routledge, 2004, 63-104. Information
about the Jews of Carthage can be deduced from Claude Aziza, Tertullien et le judaïsme,
Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1977, 15-43.