Tertullian

\nQuintus Septimius Florens Tertullian (b. ca. 150-160, d. ca. 220-240) is a highly ambivalent character in early Christianity. On one hand, he was the first great writer of Latin Christianity. He was born, lived, wrote, and died in Carthage, in what is today Tunisia, and was one of the most notably grand and original writers of the early Church. On the other hand, late in his life he left the orthodox catholic Church and joined the radical, millenialist cult of the Montanists, and was thus never declared a saint by any surviving Christian church.

Life

Of his life very little is known, and that little is based upon passing references in his own writings, and upon Eusebius of Caesarea, Hist. eccl., II, ii. 4, and Jerome, De viris illustribus, (On famous men) chapter 53. His father held a position (centurio proconsularis, "aide-de-camp") in the Roman army in Africa, and Punic influence can be seen in his style, with its archaisms or provincialisms, its glowing imagery, and its passionate temper. He was a scholar, having received an excellent education. He wrote at least three books in Greek, to which he himself refers; but none of these are extant. His principal study was jurisprudence, and his methods of reasoning reveal striking marks of his juridical training. He shone among the advocates of Rome, as Eusebius reports. His conversion to Christianity took place about 197-198 (so Harnack, Bonwetsch, and others), but its immediate antecedents are unknown except as they are conjectured from his writings. The event must have been sudden and decisive, transforming at once his own personality; he himself said that he could not imagine a truly Christian life without such a conscious breach, a radical act of conversion: "Christians are made, not born" (Apol, xviii). In the church of Carthage he was ordained a presbyter, though he was married-- a fact which is well established by his two books to his wife. In middle life (about 207) he broke with the Catholic Church and became the local leader and the passionate and brilliant exponent of Montanism, that is, he became a schismatic. The statement of Augustine (De Haeresibus, lxxxvi) that before his death Tertullian returned to the bosom of the Catholic Church is very improbable. His party, the Tertullianists, still had in the times of Augustine a basilica in Carthage, but in that same period passed into the orthodox Church. Jerome says that Tertullian lived to a great age. In spite of his schism, Tertullian continued to fight heresy, especially Gnosticism; and by the doctrinal works thus produced he became the teacher of Cyprian, the predecessor of Augustine, and the chief founder of Latin theology.

Writings

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General Character

Thirty-one works are extant, together with fragments of more. Some 15 works in Latin or Greek are lost, some as recently as the 9th century (De Paradiso, De superstitione saeculi, De carne et anima were all extant in the now damaged Codex Agobardinus in 814 AD). Tertullian's writings cover the whole theological field of the time-- apologetics against paganism and Judaism, polemics, polity, discipline, and morals, or the whole reorganization of human life on a Christian basis; they give a picture of the religious life and thought of the time which is of the greatest interest to the church historian. Their general temper is austere, their purpose practical; they are full of life and freshness. In his endeavors to make the Latin language a vehicle for his somewhat tumultuous ideas, the author now and then becomes strained and obscure; but, as a rule, he is quick, precise, and pointed. He is always powerful and intrepid, commanding, not begging, the attention of the reader; with reference to earlier literature and customs he is a master of wit and sarcasm and is always original. He has been likened to a fresh mountain torrent, tumultuous, and making its own path, although some of the tumult in his writing seems hard to reconcile with modern liberal Christianity.

Chronology and Contents

The chronology of these writings is difficult to fix with certainty. It is in part determined by the Montanistic views that are set forth in some of them, by the author's own allusions to this writing or that as ante-dating others (cf. Harnack, Litteratur, ii. 260-262), and by definite historic data (e.g., the reference to the death of Septimius Severus, Ad Scapulam, iv.). In his work against Marcion, which he calls his third composition on the Marcionite heresy, he gives its date as the fifteenth year of Severus' reign (Adv. Marcionem, i. 1, 15). The writings may be divided with reference to the two periods of Tertullian's Christian activity, the Catholic and the Montanist (cf. Harnack, ii. 262 sqq.), or according to their subject-matter. The object of\nthe former mode of division is to show, if possible, the change of views Tertullian's mind underwent. Following the latter mode, which is of a more practical interest, the writings fall into two groups: \n#apologetic and polemic, e.g., Apologeticus, De testimonio animae, Adv. Judaeos, Adv. Marcionem, Adv. Praxeam, Adv. Hermogenem, De praescriptione hereticorum, Scorpiace, to counteract the sting of Gnosticism, etc.; \n#practical and disciplinary, e.g., De monogamia, Ad uxorem, De virginibus velandis, De cultu feminarum, De patientia, De pudicitia, De oratione, Ad martyras, etc. Among the apologetic writings the Apologeticus, addressed to the Roman magistrates, is the most pungent defense of Christianity and the Christians ever written against the reproaches of the pagans, and one of the most magnificent legacies of the ancient Church, full of enthusiasm, courage, and vigor. It first clearly proclaims the principle of religious liberty as an in inalienable right of man, and demands a fair trial for the Christians before they are condemned to death. Tertullian was the first to break the force of such\ncharges as that the Christians sacrificed infants at\nthe celebration of the Lord's Supper and committed\nincest; he pointed to the commission of such crimes\nin the pagan world, and then proved by the \ntestimony of Pliny that Christians pledged themselves\nnot to commit murder, adultery, or other crimes;\nhe adduced also the inhumanity of pagan customs,\nsuch as feeding the flesh of gladiators to beasts. \nThe gods have no existence, and thus there is no \npagan religion against which Christians may offend. \nChristians do not engage in the foolish worship of \nthe emperors; they do better, they pray for them. \nChristians can afford to be put to torture and to \ndeath, and the more they are cast down the more \nthey grow; "the blood of Christians is seed" (chap. \nl.). In the De Praescriptione he develops as its \nfundamental idea that, in a dispute between the Church \nand a separating party, the whole burden of proof \nlies with the latter, as the Church, in possession of \nthe unbroken tradition, is by its very existence a \nguaranty of its truth. The five books against \nMarcion, written 207 or 208, are the most \ncomprehensive and elaborate of his polemical works, \ninvaluable for the understanding of Gnosticism. Of the\nmoral and ascetic treatises, the De patientia and\nDe spectaculis are among the most interesting, and\nthe De pudicitia and De virginibus velandis among\nthe most characteristic.\n

Theology

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General Character

Though thoroughly conversant\nwith the Greek theology, Tertullian was \nindependent of its metaphysical speculation.\nHe had learned from the Greek \napologies, and forms a direct contrast to\nOrigen. Origen pushed his idealism in\nthe direction of Gnostic spiritualism. Tertullian,\nthe prince of realists and practical theologian, \ncarried his realism to the verge of materialism. This\nis evident from his ascription to God of corporeity\nand his acceptance of the traducian theory of the\norigin of the soul. He despised Greek philosophy,\nand, far from looking at Plato, Aristotle, and other\nGreek thinkers whom he quotes as forerunners of\nChrist and the Gospel, he pronounces them the\npatriarchal forefathers of the heretics (De anima,\niii.). He held up to scorn their inconsistency when\nhe referred to the fact that Socrates in dying ordered\na cock to be sacrificed to AEsculapius (De anima, i.).\nTertullian always wrote under stress of a felt \nnecessity. He was never so happy as when he had \nopponents like Marcion and Praxeas, and, however\nabstract the ideas may be which he treated, he was\nalways moved by practical considerations to make\nhis case clear and irresistible. It was partly this\nelement which gave to his writings a formative \ninfluence upon the theology of the post-Nicene period\nin the West and has rendered them fresh reading to\nthis day. He was a born disputant, moved by the\nnoblest impulses known in the Church. It is true\nthat during the third century no mention is made\nof his name by other authors. Lactantius at the\nopening of the fourth century is the first to do this,\nbut Augustine treats him openly with respect.\nCyprian, Tertullian's North African compatriot,\nthough he nowhere mentions his name, was well\nread in his writings, as Cyprian's secretary told\nJerome.\n

Specific Teachings

Tertullian's main doctrinal teachings are as \nfollows: (1) The soul was not preexistent, as Plato affirmed, nor subject to metempsychosis or reincarnation, as the Pythagoreans held. In each individual it is a new product, proceeding equally with the body from the parents, and not created later and associated with the body (De anima, xxvii.). This position is called 'traducianism' in opposition to 'creationism', or the idea that each soul is a fresh creation of God. For Tertullian the soul is, however, a distinct entity and a certain corporeity and as such it may be tormented in Hell (De anima, lviii.). (2) The soul's sinfulness is easily explained by its traducian origin (De anima, xxxix.). It is in bondage to Satan (whose works it renounces in baptism), but has seeds of good (De anima, xli.), and when awakened, it passes to health and at once calls upon God (Apol., xvii.) and is naturally Christian. It exists in all men alike; it is a culprit and yet an unconscious witness by its impulse to worship, its fear of demons, and its musings on death to the power, benignity, and judgment of God as revealed in the Christian's Scriptures (De testimonio, v.-vi.). (3) God, who made the world out of nothing through his Son, the Word, has corporeity though he is a spirit (De praescriptione, vii.; Adv. Praxeam, vii.). However Tertullian used 'corporeal' only in the stoic sense, to mean something with actual existence, rather than the later idea of flesh. In the statement of the Trinity, Tertullian was a forerunner of the Nicene doctrine, approaching the subject from the standpoint of the Logos doctrine, though he did not fully state the immanent Trinity. In his treatise against Praxeas, who taught patripassianism in Rome, he used the words, " Trinity and economy, persons and substance." The Son is distinct from the Father, and the Spirit from both the Father and the Son (Adv. Praxeam, xxv.). "These three are one substance, not one person; and it is said, 'I and my Father are one' in respect not of the singularity of number but the unity of the substance." The very names "Father" and "Son" indicate the distinction of personality. The Father is one, the Son is one, and the Spirit is one (Adv. Praxeam, ix.). The question whether the Son was coeternal with the Father Tertullian does not set forth in full clearness; and though he did not fully state the doctrine of the immanence of the Trinity, he went a long distance in the way of approach to it (B. B. Warfield, in Princeton Theological Review, 1906, pp. 56, 159). (4) In soteriology\nTertullian does not dogmatize, he prefers to keep\nsilence at the mystery of the cross (De Patientia,\niii.). The sufferings of Christ's life as well as of the\ncrucifixion are efficacious to redemption. In the\nwater of baptism, which (upon a partial quotation\nof John 3:5) is made necessary (De baptismate, vi.),\nwe are born again; we do not receive the Holy\nSpirit in the water, but are prepared for the Holy\nSpirit. We little fishes, after the example of the\nichthys, " fish," Jesus Christ (having reference to\nthe formula Jesus Christus, theou uios soter, the\ninitials of which make up the Greek word for\n"fish"), are born in water (De baptismate, i.). In\ndiscussing whether sins committed subsequent to\nbaptism may be forgiven, he calls baptism and \npenance "two planks" on which the sinner may be\nsaved from shipwreck-- language which he gave to\nthe Church (De penitentia, xii.). (5) With reference to the rule of faith, it may be said that Tertullian is constantly using this expression and by it means\nnow the authoritative tradition handed down in\nthe Church, now the Scriptures themselves, and \nperhaps also a definite doctrinal formula. While he\nnowhere gives a list of the books of Scripture, he\ndivides them into two parts and calls them the \ninstrumentum and testamentum (Adv. Marcionem, iv. 1). He distinguishes between the four Gospels and\ninsists upon their apostolic origin as accrediting\ntheir authority (De praescriptione, xxxvi.; Adv. \nMarcionem, iv. 1-5); in trying to account for Marcion's\ntreatment of the Lucan Gospel and the Pauline\nwritings he sarcastically queries whether the \n"shipmaster from Pontus " (Marcion) had ever been\nguilty of taking on contraband goods or tampering\nwith them after they were aboard (Adv. Marcionem,\nv. 1). The Scripture, the rule of faith, is for him\nfixed and authoritative (De corona, iii.-iv.). As\nopposed to the pagan writings they are divine (De\ntestimonio animae, vi.). They contain all truth (De\npraescriptione, vii., xiv.) and from them the Church\ndrinks (potat) her faith (Adv. Praxeam, xiii.). The\nprophets were older than the Greek philosophers and\ntheir authority is accredited by the fulfilment of their\npredictions (Apol., xix.-xx.). The Scriptures and the\nteachings of philosophy are incompatible, in so far as the latter are the origins of sub-Christian heresies. "What\nhas Athens to do with Jerusalem?" he exclaims,\n"or the Academy with the Church?" (De \npraescriptione, vii.). Philosophy as pop-paganism is a work of demons\n(De anima, i.); the Scriptures contain the wisdom of\nheaven. However Tertullian was not averse to using the technical methods of Stoicism to discuss a problem (De anima). The rule of faith, however, seems to be also applied by Tertullian to some distinct formula\nof doctrine, and he gives a succinct statement of\nthe Christian faith under this term (De praescriptione,\nxiii.).\n

Moral Principles:

Tertullian was a determined advocate of strict discipline and an austere code of practise, and like many of the African fathers, one of the leading representatives\nof the rigorist element in the early Church. These views may have led him to adopt Montanism with its ascetic rigor and its belief in chiliasm and the continuance of the prophetic gifts. In his writings on public amusements, the veiling of virgins, the conduct of women, and the like, he gives expression to these views. On the principle that we should not look at or listen to what we have no right to practise, and that polluted things, seen and touched, pollute (De spectaculis, viii., xvii.), he declared a Christian should abstain from the theater and the amphitheater. There pagan religious rites were applied \nand the names of pagan divinities invoked; there \nthe precepts of modesty, purity, and humanity were \nignored or set aside, and there no place was offered \nto the onlookers for the cultivation of the Christian \ngraces. Women should put aside gold and precious \nstones as ornaments (De cultu, v.-vi.), and virgins\nshould conform to the law of St. Paul for women\nand keep themselves strictly veiled (De virginibus\nvelandis). He praised the unmarried state as the\nhighest (De monogamia, xvii.; Ad uxorem, i. 3),\ncalled upon Christians not to allow themselves to be\nexcelled in the virtue of celibacy by Vestal Virgins\nand Egyptian priests, and he pronounced second\nmarriage a species of adultery (De exhortations \ncastitatis, ix.). If Tertullian went to an unhealthy \nextreme in his counsels of asceticism, he is easily \nforgiven when one recalls his own moral vigor and his\ngreat services as an ingenuous and intrepid defender\nof the Christian religion, which with him, as later\nwith Martin Luther, was first and chiefly an experience of\nhis own heart. On account of his schism with the Church, he, like the great Alexandrian Father, Origen, has failed to receive the honor of canonization.

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\nInitial text from Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religion\n----\nSee also: \n*English translations of Tertullian's writings can be found in the Ante-Nicene Fathers. External links to translated texts:

• The Tertullian Project Latin texts, translations in many languages, manuscripts etc.\n* Jerome's On Famous Men

Category:Ancient Roman Christianity\nCategory:Theologians\nCategory:Late Antiquity