Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullian (b. ca. 150-160, d. ca. 220-240) was the first great writer of Latin Christianity. He was born, lived, wrote, and died in Carthage, and was one of the most notably grand and original writers of the early Church.
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2 Writings 3 Theology 4 Moral Principles: |
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 Tertullian's Punic blood palpably pulsates in his style, with its archaisms or provincialisms, its glowing imagery, 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 leader and the passionate and brilliant exponent of Montanism, that is, he became a schismatic. The statement of Augustine ((Haer., 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.
These number thirty-seven, and several Latin tracts are lost as well as those written in Greek. 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. In chapter xxx of his De Spectaculis (Concerning Public Spectacles) he expressed his feelings about Hell in the following terms:
The chronology of these writings 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
the 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:
Tertullian was the first to break the force of such
charges as that the Christians sacrificed infants at
the celebration of the Lord's Supper and committed
incest; he pointed to the commission of such crimes
in the pagan world, and then proved by the
testimony of Pliny that Christians pledged themselves
not to commit murder, adultery, or other crimes;
he adduced also the inhumanity of pagan customs,
such as feeding the flesh of gladiators to beasts.
The gods have no existence, and thus there is no
pagan religion against which Christians may offend.
Christians do not engage in the foolish worship of
the emperors; they do better, they pray for them.
Christians can afford to be put to torture and to
death, and the more they are cast down the more
they grow; "the blood of Christians is seed" (chap.
l.). In the De Praescriptione he develops as its
fundamental idea that, in a dispute between the Church
and a separating party, the whole burden of proof
lies with the latter, as the Church, in possession of
the unbroken tradition, is by its very existence a
guaranty of its truth.
The five books against
Marcion, written 207 or 208, are the most
comprehensive and elaborate of his polemical works,
invaluable for the understanding of Gnosticism. Of the
moral and ascetic treatises, the De patientia and
De spectaculis are among the most interesting, and
the De pudicitia and De virginibus velandis among
the most characteristic.
Though thoroughly conversant
with the Greek theology, Tertullian was
independent of its metaphysical speculation.
He had learned from the Greek
apologies, and forms a direct contrast to
Origen. Origen pushed his idealism in
the direction of Gnostic spiritualism. Tertullian,
the prince of realists and practical theologian,
carried his realism to the verge of materialism. This
is evident from his ascription to God of corporeity
and his acceptance of the traducian theory of the
origin of the soul. He despised Greek philosophy,
and, far from looking at Plato, Aristotle, and other
Greek thinkers whom he quotes as forerunners of
Christ and the Gospel, he pronounces them the
patriarchal forefathers of the heretics (De anima,
iii.). He held up to scorn their inconsistency when
he referred to the fact that Socrates in dying ordered
a cock to be sacrificed to AEsculapius (De anima, i.).
Tertullian always wrote under stress of a felt
necessity. He was never so happy as when he had
opponents like Marcion and Praxeas, and, however
abstract the ideas may be which he treated, he was
always moved by practical considerations to make
his case clear and irresistible. It was partly this
element which gave to his writings a formative
influence upon the theology of the post-Nicene period
in the West and has rendered them fresh reading to
this day. He was a born disputant, moved by the
noblest impulses known in the Church. It is true
that during the third century no mention is made
of his name by other authors. Lactantius at the
opening of the fourth century is the first to do this,
but Augustine treats him openly with respect.
Cyprian, Tertullian's North African compatriot,
though he nowhere mentions his name, was well
read in his writings, as Cyprian's secretary told
Jerome.
Tertullian's main doctrinal teachings are as
follows:
(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.). 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
Tertullian does not dogmatize, he prefers to keep
silence at the mystery of the cross (De Patientia,
iii.). The sufferings of Christ's life as well as of the
crucifixion are efficacious to redemption. In the
water of baptism, which (upon a partial quotation
of John 3:5) is made necessary (De baptismate, vi.),
we are born again; we do not receive the Holy
Spirit in the water, but are prepared for the Holy
Spirit. We little fishes, after the example of the
ichthys, " fish," Jesus Christ (having reference to
the formula Jesus Christus, theou uios soter, the
initials of which make up the Greek word for
"fish"), are born in water (De baptismate, i.). In
discussing whether sins committed subsequent to
baptism may be forgiven, he calls baptism and
penance "two planks" on which the sinner may be
saved from shipwreck-- language which he gave to
the 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
now the authoritative tradition handed down in
the Church, now the Scriptures themselves, and
perhaps also a definite doctrinal formula. While he
nowhere gives a list of the books of Scripture, he
divides them into two parts and calls them the
instrumentum and testamentum (Adv. Marcionem, iv. 1). He distinguishes between the four Gospels and
insists upon their apostolic origin as accrediting
their authority (De praescriptione, xxxvi.; Adv.
Marcionem, iv. 1-5); in trying to account for Marcion's
treatment of the Lucan Gospel and the Pauline
writings he sarcastically queries whether the
"shipmaster from Pontus " (Marcion) had ever been
guilty of taking on contraband goods or tampering
with them after they were aboard (Adv. Marcionem,
v. 1). The Scripture, the rule of faith, is for him
fixed and authoritative (De corona, iii.-iv.). As
opposed to the pagan writings they are divine (De
testimonio animae, vi.). They contain all truth (De
praescriptione, vii., xiv.) and from them the Church
drinks (potat) her faith (Adv. Praxeam, xiii.). The
prophets were older than the Greek philosophers and
their authority is accredited by the fulfilment of their
predictions (Apol., xix.-xx.). The Scriptures and the
teachings of philosophy are incompatible. "What
has Athens to do with Jerusalem?" he exclaims,
"or the Academy with the Church?" (De
praescriptione, vii.). Human philosophy is a work of demons
(De anima, i.); the Scriptures contain the wisdom of
heaven. The rule of faith, however, seems to be
also applied by Tertullian to some distinct formula
of doctrine, and he gives a succinct statement of
the Christian faith under this term (De praescriptione,
xiii.).
Tertullian was a determined advocate of strict discipline and an austere code of practise, one of the leading representatives
of the puritanic element in the early Church. These views 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
and the names of pagan divinities invoked; there
the precepts of modesty, purity, and humanity were
ignored or set aside, and there no place was offered
to the onlookers for the cultivation of the Christian
graces. Women should put aside gold and precious
stones as ornaments (De cultu, v.-vi.), and virgins
should conform to the law of St. Paul for women
and keep themselves strictly veiled (De virginibus
velandis). He praised the unmarried state as the
highest (De monogamia, xvii.; Ad uxorem, i. 3),
called upon Christians not to allow themselves to be
excelled in the virtue of celibacy by Vestal Virgins
and Egyptian priests, and he pronounced second
marriage a species of adultery (De exhortations
castitatis, ix.).
If Tertullian went to an unhealthy
extreme in his counsels of asceticism, he is easily
forgiven when one recalls his own moral vigor and his
great services as an ingenuous and intrepid defender
of the Christian religion, which with him, as later
with Martin Luther, was first and chiefly an experience of
his 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.
Life
Writings
General Character
This was translated by the Rev. S. Thelwall as follows:Chronology and Contents
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 alienable right of man, and demands a fair trial for
the Christians before they are condemned to death.Theology
General Character
Specific Teachings
Moral Principles:
Initial text from Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religion
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