Tertullian: A Historical and Literary Study

by Timothy D. Barnes

Tertullian lived and wrote in Roman Carthage during the reigns of Septimus Severus (193-211) and his son Caracalla (211-217). His voluminous tracts and pamphlets reveal the atmosphere of early Christianity in an era of persecution. The author sets Tertullian's writings within a chronological and historical framework, then uses them to interpret Tertullian's intellectial development, his reaction to the society in which he lived, and his place in Latin literature.

328 pages, Hardcover

First published October 10, 1985

Reviews

[Aaron Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think overall this was a fairly interesting work. Barnes contests many things that are taken for granted as truth and shows that they are far from it. Now for myself that section of the work was literally the most boring. The rest of the book then focuses on Tertullian's life and works which was what I really enjoyed. So much so that I want to now go and read him in his own words. That to me is what a book of this type should do, inspire to look deeper, and for me it did just that.

[Griffin Postley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good ground floor

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

We don't really know much about Tertullian's life, Jerome and Eusebius' sources are demonstrably unreliable.