48 Facts About Tertullian

Tertullian was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa.

Tertullian was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of Latin Christian literature and was an early Christian apologist and a polemicist against heresy, including contemporary Christian Gnosticism.

Tertullian was the first theologian to write in Latin, and so has been called "the father of Latin Christianity", as well as "the founder of Western theology".

Tertullian is perhaps most famous for being the first writer in Latin known to use the term trinity.

Tertullian originated new theological concepts and advanced the development of early Church doctrine.

Tertullian wrote at least three books in Koine Greek; none of them are extant.

Jerome claimed that Tertullian's father held the position of centurio proconsularis in the Roman army in Africa.

Tertullian has been claimed to have been a trained lawyer and an ordained priest.

Tertullian was the first to disprove charges that Christians sacrificed infants at the celebration of the Lord's Supper and committed incest.

Tertullian pointed to the commission of such crimes in the pagan world and then proved by the testimony of Pliny the Younger that Christians pledged themselves not to commit murder, adultery, or other crimes.

Tertullian adduced the inhumanity of pagan customs such as feeding the flesh of gladiators to beasts.

Tertullian has been identified by Jo Ann McNamara as the person who originally invested the consecrated virgin as the "bride of Christ", which helped to bring the independent virgin under patriarchal rule.

However Tertullian used 'corporeal' only in the Stoic sense, to mean something with actual material existence, rather than the later idea of flesh.

Tertullian is often considered an early proponent of the Nicene doctrine, approaching the subject from the standpoint of the Logos doctrine, though he did not state the later doctrine of the immanent Trinity.

At times, speaking of the Father and the Son, Tertullian refers to "two gods".

Tertullian says that all things of the Father belong to the Son, including his names, such as Almighty God, Most High, Lord of Hosts, or King of Israel.

Tertullian advises the postponement of baptism of little children and the unmarried, he mentions that it was customary to baptise infants, with sponsors speaking on their behalf.

Tertullian argued that an infant ran the risk of growing up and then falling into sin, which could cause them to lose their salvation, if they were baptized as infants.

Contrary to early Syrian baptismal doctrine and practice, Tertullian describes baptism as a cleansing and preparation process which precedes the reception of the Holy Spirit in post-baptismal anointing.

Tertullian had an view of the baptism, thus the efficiency of baptism was not dependent upon the faith of the receiver.

Tertullian believed that in an emergency, the laity can give the baptism.

Tertullian believed that the power to "bind and unbind" has passed from Peter to the apostles and prophets of the Montanist church, not the bishops.

Tertullian mocked Pope Calixtus or Agrippinus when he challenged him on the Church forgiving capital sinners and letting them back into the church.

Tertullian believed that the people who committed grave sins, such as sorcery, fornication and murder, should not be let inside the church.

Tertullian had previously held marriage to be fundamentally good, but after his conversion he denied its goodness.

Tertullian argues that marriage is considered to be good "when it is compared with the greatest of all evils".

Tertullian argued that before the coming of Christ, the command to reproduce was a prophetic sign pointing to the coming of the Church; after it came, the command was superseded.

Tertullian believed lust for one's wife and for another woman were essentially the same, so that marital desire was similar to adulterous desire.

Tertullian did not have a specific listing of the canon; however, he quotes 1 John, 1 Peter, Jude, Revelation, the Pauline epistles and the four Gospels.

Tertullian made no references to the book of Tobit; however, in his book Adversus Marcionem he quotes the book of Judith.

Tertullian quoted most of the Old Testament including many deuterocanonical books, however he never used the books of Chronicles, Ruth, Esther, 2 Maccabees, 2 John and 3 John.

Tertullian defended the Book of Enoch and he believed that the book was omitted by the Jews from the canon.

Tertullian believed that the epistle to the Hebrews was made by Barnabas.

For Tertullian, scripture was authoritative; he used scripture as the primary source in almost every chapter of his every work, and very rarely anything else.

Tertullian seems to prioritize the authority of scripture above anything else.

Tertullian denied Mary's virginity in partu, and he was quoted by Helvidius in his debate with Jerome.

Tertullian is said to have held to a view similar to the Protestant priesthood of all believers and that the distinction of the clergy and the laity is only because of ecclesiastical institution and thus in an absence of a priest the laity can act as priests; his theory on the distinction of the laity and clergy is influenced by Montanism and his early writings do not have the same beliefs.

Tertullian believed in historic premillennialism: that Christians will go through a period of tribulation, to be followed by a literal 1000-year reign of Christ.

Tertullian attacked the use of Greek philosophy in Christian theology.

Tertullian believed that many people became heretical because of relying on philosophy.

Tertullian believed that because of the actions of the watchers as described in the Book of Enoch, men would later judge angels.

Tertullian believed that angels are inferior to humans, and not made in the image of God.

Tertullian was drawn to Montanism, if he was, mainly because of its strict moral standards.

Tertullian believed that the Church had forsaken the Christian way of life and entered a path of destruction.

Tertullian was an advocate of discipline and an austere code of practise, and like many of the African fathers, one of the leading representatives of the rigorist element in the early Church.

Tertullian even labeled second marriage a species of adultery, but this directly contradicted the Epistles of the Apostle Paul.

Tertullian's resolve to never marry again and that no one else should remarry eventually led to his break with Rome because the orthodox church refused to follow him in this resolve.

Tertullian believed that marital relations coarsened the body and spirit and would dull their spiritual senses and avert the Holy Spirit since husband and wife became one flesh once married.