This monograph, a revised version of Arne Hogrefe's doctoral dissertation at Philipps-Universität Marburg, examines the historical arguments used in the debate between Augustine and the Donatists. At stake in the Donatist controversy were not only theological issues, but the question of which Church – Catholic or Donatist – represents the genuine Church. The Donatists argued that they were the pure Church, since they rejected all traditores and lapsi who collaborated during the persecutions of the Christians, and as such the Donatist Church maintained the authentic line of succession and the true traditio. Augustine counters this claim on the basis of historical facts, and is again answered by the Donatists on the basis of historical arguments. The use of these historical arguments – with the Council of Carthage of 411 as central focus – is the theme of Umstrittene Vergangenheit. An introductory chapter (pp. 8–16) presents a status quaestionis. Subsequently the author provides a historical overview of the Donatist controversy, from the very beginning up until Augustine's involvement in it (pp. 17–60). This chapter also sketches the political and religious situation in north Africa during the fourth century. The third chapter deals with the themes of the content and the historical arguments present in the writings against the grammarian Cresconius (pp. 61–106). Hogrefe applies the same analysis to Augustine's anti-Donatist epistulae in the following chapter (pp. 107–52). The fifth chapter is devoted to Augustine's role at the Conference at Carthage (pp. 153–227). The history of the council is summarised and the historical argumentation developed by Augustine during it is discussed. Hogrefe also reports how Augustine himself was later to interpret this council. Next, the Donatists are given the floor (pp. 228–69). Their belief that they stood in the genuine traditio is discussed, and set against Augustine's refutation of it. Chapter vii studies how the Donatists dealt with internal schisms and the place of the historical argumentation in this (pp. 270–329). The concluding chapter offers a synthesis of the historical arguments on both sides (pp. 330–54), and the book ends with an excursus on the date of the council of Cirta (pp. 355–61), a time table of the Donatist controversy (pp. 364–6), a detailed bibliography (pp. 367–84) and indices (pp. 385–93). Hogrefe provides a well-structured and academically sophisticated overview of the use of historical arguments in the Donatist controversy, on the basis of a profound study of the available sources and in interaction with the existing academic literature on this subject. His book is a valuable, ‘incontournable’ contribution to research on the history of the Donatist controversy.