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A woodcut illustration depicting Tertullian.
Quintus Florens Tertullian
(Anglicised to Tertullian).
160 A.D. - 220 A.D.
Church Father and Theologian.
This File: August 2011.
User: Serge Lachinov.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, Anglicised as Tertullian (circa 160 A.D. – circa 225 A.D.), was a prolific Early-Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He is the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of Latin Christian literature.
He also was a notable Early-Christian apologist and a polemicist against heresy. Tertullian has been called "the Father of Latin Christianity" and "the founder of Western theology." Though conservative, he did originate and advance new theology to the early Church. He is perhaps most famous for being the oldest extant Latin writer to use the term "Trinity" (Latin, trinitas), and giving the oldest extant formal exposition of a Trinitarian theology. Other Latin formulations that first appear in his work are "three Persons, one Substance" as the Latin "tres Personae,una Substantia" (itself from the Koine Greek "treis Hypostases, Homoousios"). He wrote his Trinitarian formula after becoming a Montanist.
However, unlike many Church Fathers, he was never Canonised by the Catholic Church, as several of his later teachings directly contradicted the actions and teachings of the Apostles. His Trinity formulation was considered heresy by the Church during his lifetime, however, it was later accepted as Doctrine at the Council of Nicea.
Scant reliable evidence exists to inform us about Tertullian's life. Most history about him comes from passing references in his own writings.
According to Church tradition, he was raised in Carthage and was thought to be the son of a Roman Centurion, a trained lawyer, and an Ordained Priest. These assertions rely on the accounts of Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History, II, ii. 4, and Jerome's De viris illustribus (On famous men), Chapter 53. Jerome claimed that Tertullian's father held the position of 'centurio proconsularis' ("aide-de-camp") in the Roman Army in Africa. However, it is unclear whether any such position in the Roman military ever existed.
Further, Tertullian has been thought to be a lawyer, based on his use of legal analogies and an identification of him with the jurist, Tertullianus, who is quoted in the Pandects. Although Tertullian used a knowledge of Roman law in his writings, his legal knowledge does not demonstrably exceed that of what could be expected from a sufficient Roman education.The writings of Tertullianus, a lawyer of the same cognomen, exist only in fragments and do not denote a Christian authorship. (Tertullianus was misidentified only much later with the Christian Tertullian by Church historians.) Finally, any notion of Tertullian being a Priest is also questionable. In his extant writings, he never describes himself as Ordained in the Church and seems to place himself among the Laity.
Roman Africa was famous as the home of orators. This influence can be seen in his style with its archaisms or provincialisms, its glowing imagery and its passionate temper. He was a scholar with an excellent education. He wrote at least three books in Greek. In them, he refers to himself, 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 perhaps took place about 197 A.D. – 198 A.D. (cf. Adolf 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 said of himself 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).
Two books, addressed to his wife, confirm that he was married to a Christian wife.
In middle life (about 207 A.D.), he was attracted to the "New Prophecy" of Montanism, and seems to have split from the mainstream Church. In the time of Augustine, a group of "Tertullianists" still had a Basilica in Carthage, which, within that same period, passed to the orthodox Church. It is unclear whether the name was merely another for the Montanists or that this means Tertullian later split with the Montanists and founded his own group.
Jerome says that Tertullian lived to a great age, but there is no reliable source attesting to his survival beyond the estimated year 225 A.D. In spite of his Schism from the Church, he continued to write against Heresy, especially Gnosticism. Thus, by the doctrinal works he published, Tertullian became the teacher of Cyprian and the predecessor of Augustine, who, in turn, became the chief founder of Latin theology.
Scant reliable evidence exists to inform us about Tertullian's life. Most history about him comes from passing references in his own writings.
Codex Balliolensis, Tertullian's "Apologetics".
This File: September 2005.
User: Tomisti.
(Wikimedia Commons)
According to Church tradition, he was raised in Carthage and was thought to be the son of a Roman Centurion, a trained lawyer, and an Ordained Priest. These assertions rely on the accounts of Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History, II, ii. 4, and Jerome's De viris illustribus (On famous men), Chapter 53. Jerome claimed that Tertullian's father held the position of 'centurio proconsularis' ("aide-de-camp") in the Roman Army in Africa. However, it is unclear whether any such position in the Roman military ever existed.
Further, Tertullian has been thought to be a lawyer, based on his use of legal analogies and an identification of him with the jurist, Tertullianus, who is quoted in the Pandects. Although Tertullian used a knowledge of Roman law in his writings, his legal knowledge does not demonstrably exceed that of what could be expected from a sufficient Roman education.The writings of Tertullianus, a lawyer of the same cognomen, exist only in fragments and do not denote a Christian authorship. (Tertullianus was misidentified only much later with the Christian Tertullian by Church historians.) Finally, any notion of Tertullian being a Priest is also questionable. In his extant writings, he never describes himself as Ordained in the Church and seems to place himself among the Laity.
Roman Africa was famous as the home of orators. This influence can be seen in his style with its archaisms or provincialisms, its glowing imagery and its passionate temper. He was a scholar with an excellent education. He wrote at least three books in Greek. In them, he refers to himself, 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 perhaps took place about 197 A.D. – 198 A.D. (cf. Adolf 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 said of himself 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).
Two books, addressed to his wife, confirm that he was married to a Christian wife.
English: Ruins of Carthage, modern-day Tunisia, where Tertullian lived.
Русский: На фото не развалины Карфагена, а Римские бани.
Source: Transferred from en.wikipedia.
Author: Patrick Verdier.
Permission: This photograph comes from Free On Line Photos (source).
As such, it is "free of rights".
This File: December 2009.
User: Citypeek.
(Wikimedia Commons)
In middle life (about 207 A.D.), he was attracted to the "New Prophecy" of Montanism, and seems to have split from the mainstream Church. In the time of Augustine, a group of "Tertullianists" still had a Basilica in Carthage, which, within that same period, passed to the orthodox Church. It is unclear whether the name was merely another for the Montanists or that this means Tertullian later split with the Montanists and founded his own group.
Jerome says that Tertullian lived to a great age, but there is no reliable source attesting to his survival beyond the estimated year 225 A.D. In spite of his Schism from the Church, he continued to write against Heresy, especially Gnosticism. Thus, by the doctrinal works he published, Tertullian became the teacher of Cyprian and the predecessor of Augustine, who, in turn, became the chief founder of Latin theology.
WRITINGS
General character.
Thirty-one works are extant, together with fragments of more. Some fifteen 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 A.D). Tertullian's writings cover the whole theological field of the time — apologetics against paganism and Judaism, polemics, polity, discipline, and morals, or the whole reorganisation of human life on a Christian basis; they gave a picture of the religious life and thought of the time, which is of the greatest interest to the Church Historian.
Thirty-one works are extant, together with fragments of more. Some fifteen 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 A.D). Tertullian's writings cover the whole theological field of the time — apologetics against paganism and Judaism, polemics, polity, discipline, and morals, or the whole reorganisation of human life on a Christian basis; they gave a picture of the religious life and thought of the time, which is of the greatest interest to the Church Historian.
PART TWO FOLLOWS.
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