This text is the result of the symposium held at the Centre for Patristic Research (universities of Amsterdam and Tilburg, Netherlands) on the occasion of the 1750th anniversary of Cyprian's martyrdom (14 September 258). As befits such a celebration, the editors have gathered together a group of contributors covering a wide range of themes, and seek to include not only Cyprian's legacy both in Donatism (Matthew Gaumer) and Augustine (Paul van Geest) but also his use by Reformed theologians (Aza Goudriaan) and his reappearance in the tension in the Catholic Church between the Fraternity of Pius x and those who reaffirm the claims of the Second Vatican Council (Marcel Poorthuis).

Augustine's use of Cyprian's auctoritas against the Donatists represented a Catholic reappropriation of the former that required a downplaying if not a dis-tortion of Cyprianic positions favouring Donatism. Cyprian's theology of baptism, resting on a tight intus/foris (not fortis, p. 187) distinction between those inside and outside the Church, justified the Donatist practice of rebaptism. Augustine emphasises Cyprian's rhetoric of schism in application to the Donatist phenomenon, focusing on the former's reliance on ecclesial custom. Augustine's real tour de force was of course his insistence on the validity of baptism in conjunction with its imperfect character when performed outside the Church. But Gaumer does go beyond these familiar points when he points out Augustine's development of them positively and creatively in the corpus mixtum of the De civitate dei.

Van Geest identifies Augustine's distortions of the Cyprianic legacy as created by his neglect of Cyprian's striving for sincerity. This sincerity was to be seen in Cyprian's striving for the unity of the Church, particularly communion with the See of Peter however much the precise nature of that communion might have been ambiguously expressed. The intus/foris distinction was blotted out and replaced with the image of the Church radiating its light throughout the world.

Goudrian wonders at the positive reception of Cyprian by the Reformers in view of his claim of ‘nulla salus extra ecclesiam est’. Calvin, like Benson later, uses Cyprianic theology to claim that there is no hierarchy amongst the bishops and for one of them to claim supremacy challenges the headship of Christ in the Church. In this respect Scultetus followed him, along with Leiden theologians such as Mornay and Lubbertus, who emphasised Cyprian's claim that all bishops possessed identical honor and potestas. Polanus rediscovered in addition Cyprian's ethical diagnosis of the intentions of the schismatic to create dissension and corrupt the uinculum pacis. He had of course to claim that by its medieval development of ecclesial authority Rome had departed from the true Church. Voetius also made use of an ‘interpolationist’ thesis that Benson was to espouse, that has been so cogently refuted by Bévenot.

Poorthuis begins with the Adversus Iudaeos, perhaps falsely attributed to Cyprian, assigning a fair share of later prejudice against Jews to his rhetoric. Poorthuis shows furthermore that the medieval Church's appeal to Cyprian's ‘nulla salus’ was clearly at variance with the position taken by Pope Stephen against his position on baptism, and points out that in any case this appeal was to fellow Christians and not to those outside the Church. Thus he will warn against the case for final decisions in matters of dogma and exhort us to a post-Vatican II support for divine illumination granted outside the visible Church but experiencing completion and fulfilment within it.

Abraham van de Beek has a perceptive analysis of Cyprian on baptism, pointing out that his views on infant baptism should not be read in isolation from his position on heretical baptism. Cyprian was anxious that there be no delay until the eighth day as Fidus had proposed because there was no salvation outside the Church and therefore with the same imperative as he had imposed on the (re)baptism of heretics. Van de Beek also gives an interesting account of Augustine's use of Cyprian against the Donatists' allegedly Cyprianic view of baptism: Cyprian disagreed with his catholic opponents but remained in communion with them: as such he was an example of humility against Donatist arrogance. Van de Beek concludes with a challenge to the present position of the Church of Rome on this issue: if Stephen was right then Augustine's reconciliation of Cyprian's views with his cannot follow. What Cyprian has taught us about the nature of the Church means that Stephen's approach requires us to consider other aspects of the ministry of heretics as well.

Vincent Hunink presents an interesting quest for the historical Cyprian, although he despairs of a positive conclusion. He points out that both the Acta proconsularia Cypriana as well as Pontius' Vita bear the impress of a Christian genre of martyrology, the latter being clearly in many instances an embroidery of the former. Henk Bakker pursues this theme further in his analysis of the Vita's rhetorical style and apologetic intention, arguing that the latter is specifically fulfilled by detailed and standard use of the former. Pontius addresses the reader as a jury, persuading them by cogent argument of the uprightness of the accused. But the data on which the argument is based, and the description of the subject elaborated, is nevertheless at its root those of eyewitnesses. In answering the case against Cyprian over his successus Pontius lays bare the very contemporary debate about his actions in clear historical detail. The genre of the Vita is however, Bakker argues, to be distinguished from that of the Acta. Cyprian's defence is clearly in a form in which a Christian reporter would have expressed it. But it nevertheless reflects the closeness of a judicial inquiry to be expected from a Roman magistrate in the light of Hadrian's rescript on Christianity. The basic report of Galerius Maximus’ sentence is in words that a proconsul credibly would have used despite a providential gloss given to them by a Christian reporter. Essentially Bakker has produced a defence of the classical case made by Corssen against Reitzenstein, but judiciously executed and within the new parameters that he has set.

Liuwe H. Westra has produced an important examination of Cyprian's use of the word symbolum and of initiatory rites in pagan mysteries; Hans van Loon a careful comparison between Cyprian's Christology in the Quod idola dii non sint and his other works and hence the implications for the authenticity of the former; and Alexander Evers observations on taking seriously the role of the laity in episcopal elections. Nienke Vos and Arnold Smeets have made some important comments on, respectively, Cyprian's use of Scripture and a semiotic reading of the De unitate.

The contributors and editors of this collection have commemorated well Cyprian's 1750th anniversary.