Q. Septimius Florens Tertullianus
c. 155 AD – c. 220 AD
Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus was born around AD 155 in Carthage, the son of a centurion in the proconsular service. He received a thorough education in rhetoric and law — Jerome says he practised as a lawyer in Rome — and converted to Christianity around 197. From that point until his death (perhaps around 220), he produced an extraordinary body of polemical, apologetic, and theological writing that made him the father of Latin Christian literature.
Tertullian wrote in a Latin of fierce, compressed energy. His Apologeticum is a brilliant defence of Christianity addressed to Roman provincial governors. His De Praescriptione Haereticorum develops a legal argument against heretics: the scriptures belong to the orthodox churches by right of possession, and heretics have no standing to interpret them. His moral treatises (De Spectaculis, De Cultu Feminarum, De Idololatria) demand radical separation from pagan culture — no theatre, no military service, no public office.
Around 207 he joined the Montanists, a rigorist sect that emphasised ecstatic prophecy and extreme asceticism. This did not blunt his influence: Augustine, Jerome, and Cyprian all drew heavily on his theological vocabulary. He coined or popularised Latin theological terms still in use — trinitas, persona, substantia. His famous question — "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?" — remains the sharpest formulation of the tension between classical learning and Christian faith.
A letter of encouragement to Christians in prison awaiting martyrdom. Short, fiery, and utterly uncompromising — Tertullian tells them their prison is...
A polemical defence of Christianity addressed to the pagan nations. Tertullian attacks Roman religion, refutes common accusations, and argues that Chr...
An open letter to the Roman governor Scapula, warning him that persecuting Christians brings divine punishment. Written with characteristic Tertullian...
A refutation of Hermogenes' doctrine that God created the world from pre-existing matter. Tertullian argues for creation ex nihilo with forensic logic...
Tertullian argues against the Jews, contending that the Old Testament prophecies find their fulfilment in Christ and that the covenant has passed to t...
Five books against the heretic Marcion, who rejected the Old Testament God entirely. Tertullian's longest and most systematic theological work — a sus...
A refutation of Praxeas' modalist theology, which denied the distinction of persons in the Trinity. Contains Tertullian's most sophisticated Trinitari...
An attack on the Valentinian Gnostics — their elaborate mythological cosmology of aeons and emanations. Tertullian ridicules rather than refutes, trea...
The most famous Christian apology of the second century. Tertullian defends Christianity against legal persecution, moral slander, and intellectual co...
A treatise on the nature of the soul — against the philosophers and the Gnostics. Tertullian argues that the soul is corporeal, created at conception,...
A short treatise on baptism — the only pre-Nicene work devoted to the subject. Tertullian explains what baptism does, who may administer it, and when...
A defence of the physical reality of Christ's body against the Docetists, who claimed Christ only appeared to have flesh. Tertullian argues with chara...
A defence of the bodily resurrection of the dead — against those who spiritualised it away. Tertullian insists that the same flesh that suffered will...
A treatise on women's dress and cosmetics. Tertullian tells Christian women to abandon jewellery, hair-dye, and elaborate clothing — partly for modest...
An exhortation to a friend not to remarry after his wife's death. Tertullian argues that monogamy is God's original intention and remarriage is barely...
Can Christians flee persecution? Tertullian says no — fleeing is a form of denial, and God commands martyrdom, not survival. Written after his move to...
A treatise on idolatry and its many disguised forms — astrology, teaching, trade, military service, public office. Tertullian finds idolatry lurking i...
A defence of fasting against the mainstream church, which Tertullian now calls "the Psychics." His Montanist rigourism at its most combative.
A defence of strict monogamy — Tertullian argues that second marriages are a form of adultery. His Montanist convictions are fully visible here.
A treatise on prayer — what it is, how to do it, when, where, and with what posture. Practical and devotional, with less polemic than usual.
A treatise on repentance — the difficulty of it, the necessity of it, and the question of whether serious sins committed after baptism can be forgiven...
A treatise on patience — which Tertullian admits he lacks. Unusually self-aware and almost gentle by his standards.
Tertullian's most important ecclesiological work. He argues that heretics have no right to appeal to Scripture because they received it from the apost...
A treatise on sexual purity and the church's power to forgive sexual sins. Tertullian argues that the bishop of Rome has overstepped his authority by...
An attack on the Roman spectacles — gladiatorial games, theatre, chariot racing, and athletic contests. Tertullian argues that all public entertainmen...
A short treatise arguing that the human soul instinctively testifies to the existence of one God — even before it encounters Christianity. The soul is...
A treatise arguing that Christian women must wear veils. Tertullian insists on the practice with his usual absolutism and considers any uncovered fema...