Latin Christianity: Tertullian

Ante-Nicene Fathers #3

by Tertullian, Alexander Roberts (editor)

"One of the first great events in Christian history was the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, convened to organize Christian sects and beliefs into a unified doctrine. The great Christian clergymen who wrote before this famous event are referred to as the Ante-Nicenes and the Apostolic Fathers, and their writings are collected here in a ten-volume set. The Ante-Nicenes lived so close to the time of Christ that their interpretations of the New Testament are considered more authentic than modern voices. But they are also real and flawed men, who are more like their fellow Christians than they are like the Apostles, making their words echo in the ears of spiritual seekers. In Volume III of the 10-volume collected works of the Ante-Nicenes first published between 1885 and 1896, readers will find three of Tertullian¿s most famous writings. In Apologetic, Tertullian addresses the powers that be in Rome, demanding that Christians be accepted and tolerated by Roman law. In Anti-Marcion, Tertullian attacks and discusses heretics. And in Ethical he discusses a variety of moral questions."

Genres: Theology, Religion, Church History, Cultural, Reference

745 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1867

About the author

Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian (c. 160 – c. 220 AD), 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; his ideas were at first rejected as heresy by the church at large, but later accepted as Christian orthodoxy.

Reviews

[Beauregard Bottomley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone else is wrong while only Tertullian is the true Scotsman, excuse me true Christian. Tertullian knows the canon before it became Canon and takes it as gospel before they became the Gospel.

This is the best of the three volumes in the series, because all the desperate special pleading is univocal. The Jews were fools for not realizing that when Moses had a snake jump out that foreshadowed Jesus dying on the cross, at least according to Tertullian’s faulty logic. [Jordan Peterson in his awful book, ‘We Who Wrestle with God,’ made that point too, even though he is an atheist who cherishes myths.]

Tertullian takes Old Testament assertions that Jesus must have been the foretold messiah and claims that should have been obvious to the Jews and he’ll take stray quotes to prove his point. Christian apologists do the same today, but they ignore the parts of the prophecy that remain undone and evoke ‘spiritual’ kingdoms to come. There’s a reason why Jews reject Jesus as the Christ and unfulfilled prophecies are not prophetic until accomplished.

There’s an obvious problem that Tertullian makes while adapting his proto-New Testament canon: the NT has a sense of urgency of end times at hand, and that ‘this generation shall not past’ until Jesus’ second coming. It had not happened and Tertullian is writing well past the predicted end times ignoring the unfulfilled prophecies of imminent arrival of the end times.

Tertullian makes a mocking statement against philosophers when he says ‘what does Athens have to do with Jerusalem,’ little realizing his own well thought out philosophical reasoning is not that bad in themselves. I’d even say at times he is as good as Thomas Aquanis when it comes to Bible reconciliation and Christ’s incarnation, trinity, substantiation, and other superstitious beliefs.

The pagans and their Gods are wrong or at least not as great as the Jewish God and His son, according to Tertullian since their Gods eat their own children and marry their own siblings. His argument against the pagans don’t make his weird beliefs correct since it’s easy for both to be just as silly. I want to note the OT BibleGod destroyed the world with a flood, created a babel of languages, killed a man for trying to save the ark of the covenant, put a demonic snake in a garden, killed a man for picking up sticks on the Sabbath, promised the desert wanderers quail but poisoned 30000 of them, encouraged raping captives (Tertullian defended that), enslaving others and other atrocities. Also, one more thing Jesus promised darkness for all who don’t believe in Him. That was a cruel and unnecessary thing to say.

The two most common apologists’ arguments I hear now days are ‘objective morality’ is necessary, and that the world needs a creator. Tertullian assumes God must have been the creator and the Bible documents that, but he doesn’t appeal to objective morality as being necessary. The early apologists such as Tertullian are as shabby as today’s apologists and offer nothing in support of their special flavor for BibleGod.

Tertullian sometimes reminded me of Henrich Graetz with his special admonition against idolatry and adultery. Graetz wrote in 1860s the five-volume work ‘The History of the Jews’ and he made that a central tenet of his certainty for Jehovah too. Graetz’ work is a more enjoyable read than this volume was.

Tertullian was more interested in telling us why others were wrong than why he was right. Marcion makes good points on how the Old Testament God is evil while Tertullian accepts that He is the same God as the NT God. Tertullian relies on the OT as he processes it with his post-hoc rationalizations defending his new Christ interpretative lens with special holy spirit issued eye glasses. Tertullian relies on the Book of Daniel for giving credence for his performed fictional creation. Daniel is a pesher explaining unfulfilled prophecies by changing years into weeks and fabricating historical events thus making prophecy relevant for its time of about 160 BC. Gullible nonsense wrapped up in sophistry.

There’s very little that’s new under the sun when it comes to religious defenses when nothing is said except for “it’s possible” that it could be true and Tertullian does have a mostly for him inerrant scripture he reads from. Tertullian makes fun of the other Gods, but I would argue my preferred God, the one I have a personal relationship with, Thor, could pound the nails into Jesus and Jesus would only be able to run away on water as Thor threw his hammer. Demons, devils, Adam and Eve, Angels, Noah and the Ark, Moses, Abraham, and so on aren’t real and Tertullian claims they are in defense of his absurdities. I well embrace Thor until I see evidence to the contrary.

The paradox with Tertullian’s demon haunted world is that demons are in control. If one doesn’t accept demons, one doesn’t have to be afraid of things that go bump in the night. May Thor be with you.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tertullian, the North African church father who wrote from the 190s to the 210s dominates this volume. He was the first church father to write in Latin, and his writings cover many topics. His Apology is the best place to start and from there move on to warnings against idolatry (The Shows, On Idolatry), practical topics (On Baptism, On Prayer) and heavier theology (Against Marcion, Against Praxeas).

[Nelson Banuchi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thus far, the more interesting and insightful of the previous two volumes. In this third volume of the ante-nicene fathers of the early Christian Latin community, Tertullian handles the doctrines thoroughly and in minute details; there is much meat in Tertullian to chew on and digest and there seems to be nothing left unsaid in his teachings here recorded, and also in his many refutations of the various heresies that were disseminated in his day.

This is not at all a quick read (718 pages not including indexes; read it superficially and you won't fully benefit from the insights he provides that may also be relevant for today. I did notice a few of his arguments against heresy were sort of silly, but that's just from a present day perspective; trying to mold my mind to that of a 2nd-century Christian, I can see where it might make sense and be understood as a solid argument.

In any case, 131 pages, comprising of sections one and three, Tertullian discuss general Church doctrines, e.g idolatry, the defense of the Christian and his faith, entertainment (which in that day were the violent gladiator games), repentance, prayer, baptism, etc.

In the second section, comprising of 468 pages, which is the majority of the book,, Tertullian refutes various heresies, e.g. Marcion, Hermogenes, Valentinian, and on subjects like the flesh and resurrection of Christ, the Trinity, humanity of Christ, death etc.

For anyone who is truly interested in the theological thoughts of the early Christian community, Tertullian gives a glimpse, if even from a Latin perspective.

[Gregory · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slowly working my way through the church fathers, and finally finished Vol. 3! Tertullian is a lot of fun. Extreme at times, but always insightful, and helps us understand the early church.

[Coyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good LORD these volumes take forever to finish. I mean, theoretically I read 10 pages/day, and the whole thing should take me no more than 70-some odd days. But in the real world, 1) I get busy and don't always have time to knock out 10 pages/day; 2) each page is double-columned, so 10 pages is really 20 pages; 3) this isn't always the most thrilling writing; 4) this isn't always the most useful writing-- though 3) and 4) should probably be following by a ton of caveats (which I won't).



With all of that said, despite how long it took me to finish the volume, it was worthwhile. Tertullian is one of the two most important writers of the pre-Augustine/post-NT church (along with Origen), and as such is worth taking a bit more time to work through. He ably defended the faith in the face of persecution, was direct and assertive in facing down heresy, stood staunchly on revealed truth in a world of relativistic morality, and was the first to articulate several key theological ideas (for example, he coined the word "Trinity"). While not every work in the volume is of equal value, they're all interesting and have much to say. That in later years Tertullian stumbled into heresy himself is unfortunate, but does not diminish his contributions to the formation of the church. (The heresy in question was Montanism, which if it existed today would be an extreme form of ascetic Pentacostalism--so not the worst heresy you can end up in, and I will be surprised if the good Mr. Tertullian is not in heaven when I get there, since to the best of our knowledge he never rejected the Trinity or the atonement, and only held a distorted view of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.)



This volume contains:



The Apology: In this work, Tertullian defends Christianity by pointing out how wrong it is of the Romans to persecute Christians both morally and legally. After all, if Christianity is just another philosophy (as some claim), then why aren't other philosophies persecuted? And if Christians are being persecuted for being immoral, why not go after pagans, who are so much worse? In point of fact Christians are persecuted merely because they carry the name "Christian", which has been declared illegal, which in turn is just evidence that the law can err. Tertullian ends by giving a picture of Christian life and practice, and encouraging Christians to hold to the truth even through persecution. "The oftener we are mown down by you [pagans], the more in number we grow; the blood of Christians is seed." (55)



On Idolatry: Idolatry is, according to Tertullian, the chief crime of humanity, since all sins ultimately flow back to it. In this sense, "idolatry" is not merely the act of bowing down to idols (though it is certainly that), but it is at root the desire to worship something other than God. Statues are actually later additions to this practice.

But this is really just the surface concern of the book, on a deeper level Tertullian is attempting to explain how Christians can live in a society so dominated and defined by sin. Idolatry, in his time, pervaded everything--public events, the marketplace, popular worship, politics, entertainment, and so on. While any of these things might be fine by themselves (nothing wrong with athletics, after all), when idolatry is mixed in it becomes a matter of conscience that the Christian has to work through. [We might consider similar questions in the context of sexuality or greed today.] Overall, we must think carefully and try our best to live pure and clean lives so that we are a model of the truth to others and pursuing holiness ourselves. The good news is, we are not left to ourselves in this pursuit, indeed God has given us faith as the means by which we can live in as redeemed sinners in a sinful world: ""Amid these reefs and inlets, amid these shallows and straits of idolatry, Faith, her sails filled by the Spirit of God, navigates; safe if cautious, secure if intently watchful." (75)



Read the rest here: http://coyleneal.blogspot.com/2013/10...

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

My undergraduate thesis having been about the scholarly debates concerning the origins of gnosticism, I jumped at opportunities to pursue the study later on while at seminary in New York City. There, at UTS, I had two professors who were expert in the field: Cyril Richardson and Elaine Pagels.

Dr. Richardson was elderly and my conversations with him were confined to in- and after-class hours. Pagels, however, was one of my girlfriend's favorite professors at Barnard College down the street and, thanks to her, I got to meet her socially on her own turf--a party or two at her apartment in the neighborhood. Then, a bit later, she came to teach a course at Union.

The class was ostensibly about Genesis creation myths. I did the readings, but, as I explained to Pagels, I had really enrolled in it so I could do further research about the gnostics and obtain her criticism of my work. She kindly agreed to let me go my own way so far as the term paper was concerned.

What I did, among other things, was to read the contents of the ten-volume Ante-Nicene Fathers series, picking out and compiling all text relevant to gnostics and gnosticism. The result was an encyclopedia of all such references and a paper entitled "On the Procession of the Heresiarchs of Gnosis", a sort of child's first golden book of gnosticism. It was certainly helpful for me as these patristic sources were among our only sources about the gnostic tendencies prior to the forties. I hope it may also have served Dr. Pagels as well as a handy reference.

Of the patristic sources, Tertullian, particularly his Against Marcion, is, along with Irenaeus of Lyon's Against Heresies, one of the most important early sources in the Western Church. Of the Christian "gnostics", Marcion is especially prominent in representing what one might call a radical Pauline theology not far removed from what most scholars regard as characteristic of what they term "gnostic".

Tertullian also happens to be quite the curmudgeon, sometimes unintentionally amusing in his extremist heat.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tertullian is a must read among the ante-Nicene Fathers. He's easy to understand, but a little too verbose, and perhaps even redundant in his apologetics. Recommended!

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tertullian...the best of authors, the worst of authors. Terribly thorough in walking through every possible iteration of his argument, which makes for full defenses, but painstakingly LONG defenses. You never know where one of those Montanist dragons is going to pop up and wheeze its smokey sludge all over the place. And despite frequent acknowledgements of "don't add or remove" from Scripture, he still manages to promote several extra-Biblical practices as "necessary" disciplines and give the early Romanists a purported foothold of patristic legitimacy for the next few centuries (I wanted to ram my head through a concrete wall when I got to exomologesis). The defenses against Marcion get marked down as a must-read for modern apologists, as a variety of neo-Marcionism is beginning to read it's ugly head in modern evangelicalism. And I put a personal vote in for Adv. Praxeam for its phenomenal Trinitarian elucidations.

[Jeni Enjaian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yet again I find it nearly impossible to review this book. The writing is awkward in English translation, as is unavoidable for works such as this. The theology is a little less convoluted and bogged down by gnostic gospel stuff. I have to admit that I skimmed the pages a lot more in this one than when I first started this challenge so I don't remember a lot about it. The way access to the PDF version is still a strong selling point for anyone interested in the text.

[David Withun · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[CJ Bowen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great stuff in here on heresy, holiness, rhetoric, patience, and the person and work of Jesus.

[Galicius]

This reading will require months of time.