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Before Christianity Was Legal, It Learned How to Argue The great apologetic writings of Tertullian, modernized for today’s reader and restored to their original force. Forensic power: a courtroom-style defense that demands justice rather than pity Cultural critique: sharp examinations of idolatry, spectacle, and civic compromise Speech to power: direct appeals and warnings addressed to governors and the public Theological psychology: early Christian reflections on conscience, the soul, and moral identity This volume gathers the principal apologetic writings of Tertullian as preserved in ...

Praxeas was a Monarchian from Asia Minor. He believed in the unity of the Godhead and vehemently disagreed with any attempt at division of the personalities or personages of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the Christian Church....

The character of the times in which we live is such as to call forth from us even this admonition, that we ought not to be astonished at the heresies (which abound) neither ought their existence to surprise us, for it was foretold that they should come to pass; nor the fact that they subvert the faith of some, for their final cause is, by affording a trial to faith, to give it also the opportunity of being “approved”. - Tertullian

The Second Class of Tertullian’s works, is that which includes his treatises against the heresies of his times. In these, the genius of our author is brilliantly illustrated. Here, we venture a remark on the ambiguity of the expressions concerning our author’s Montanism.

It happened very recently, a dispute was held between a Christian and a Jewish proselyte. Alternately, with contentious cable, they each spun out the day until evening. By the opposing din, moreover, of some partisans of the individuals, truth began to be overcast by a sort of cloud.

Ad Nationes (To the Nations) shows that the Roman actions taken against the early Christians are violations of justice. This is followed by a listing of Roman slanders against the Christians. Tertullian points out the hypocrisy, since Romans hardly conduct themselves in anything resembling moral behavior. The second book condemns and criticizes Roman religion and their deities, in particular.

And so he gathered together a people for himself, and fostered them with many liberal distributions of his bounty, and, after so often finding them most ungrateful, ever exhorted them to repentance and sent out the voices of the universal company of the prophets to prophesy. By and by, promising freely the grace which in the last times he was intending to pour as a flood of light on the universal world through his Spirit, he bade the baptism of repentance lead the way.

The doctrine of Hermogenes has this taint of novelty. He is, in short, a man living in the world at the present time; by his very nature a heretic, and turbulent withal, who mistakes loquacity for eloquence, and supposes impudence to be firmness, and judges it to be the duty of a good conscience to speak ill of individuals. Moreover, he despises God’s law in his painting, maintaining repeated marriages, alleges the law of God in defense of lust, and yet despises it in respect of his art. He falsifies by a twofold process—with his cautery and his pen.

Whatever noxious vapors, accordingly, exhaled from philosophy, obscure the clear and wholesome atmosphere of truth, it will be for Christians to clear away, both by shattering to pieces the arguments which are drawn from the principles of things - I mean those of the philosophers - and by opposing to them the maxims of heavenly wisdom - that is, such as are revealed by the Lord; in order that both the pitfalls wherewith philosophy captivates the heathen may be removed, and the means employed by heresy to shake the faith of Christians may be repressed.

Happy is our sacrament of water, in that, by washing away the sins of our early blindness, we are set free and admitted into eternal life! A treatise on this matter will not be superfluous; instructing not only such as are just becoming formed (in the faith), but them who, content with having simply believed, without full examination of the grounds of the traditions, carry (in mind), through ignorance, an untried though probable faith.

Female habit carries with it a twofold idea - dress and ornament. By “dress” we mean what they call “womanly gracing”; by “ornament”, what it is suitable should be called “womanly disgracing”. The former is accounted (to consist) in gold, and silver, and gems, and garments; the latter in care of the hair, and of the skin, and of those parts of the body which attract the eye.

And this species of the divine patience indeed being, as it were, at a distance, may perhaps be esteemed as among “things too high for us”; but what is that which, in a certain way, has been grasped by hand among men openly on the Earth? God suffers himself to be conceived in a mother’s womb, and awaits the time for birth; and, when born, bears the delay of growing up; and, when grown up, is not eager to be recognized, but is furthermore contumelious to himself, and is baptized by his own servant; and repels with words alone the assaults of the tempter.

Tertullian on prayer. Tertullian gives us the essentials on prayer. Starting with the Lord’s Prayer, he breaks down each section, giving us expounded meaning into each phrase. He then goes on to discuss where and when we should pray, how we should pray, and what the importance of prayer is in our faith life.

The principal crime of the human race, the highest guilt charged upon the world, the whole procuring cause of judgment, is idolatry. Do you inquire whom he has slain? If it contributes ought to the aggravation of the indictment, no stranger nor personal enemy, but his own self. By what snares? Those of his error. By what weapon? The offense done to God. By how many blows? As many as are his idolatries.

Modesty, the flower of manners, the honor of our bodies, the grace of the sexes, the integrity of the blood, the guarantee of our race, the basis of sanctity, the pre-indication of every good disposition; rare though it is, and not easily perfected, and scarce ever retained in perpetuity, will yet up to a certain point linger in the world, if nature shall have laid the preliminary groundwork of it, discipline persuaded to it, censorial rigor curbed its excesses.

Tertullian, in To His Wife, discusses Christian marriage between a man and woman. The need for the institution to procreate and to find comfort. And in support of the apostle Paul that it is better to marry than to burn. He looks at the spiritual significance of marriage and what our eternal relationship is to our spouse. Tertullian provides various recommendations regarding marriage.

Before Christian Doctrine Was Defined, It Was Contested The great anti-heretical writings of Tertullian, modernized for today’s reader and presented with their full historical and theological force. • Doctrinal boundaries under fire: the early church defining truth against competing gospels • Christological clarity: fierce defense of the real incarnation and bodily resurrection • Trinitarian precision in conflict: early language forged in the heat of controversy • Martyrdom and faithfulness: theology tested under the threat of death This volume gathers Tertullian’s major anti-...

Before Christian Life Was Systematized, It Had to Be Lived The practical and devotional writings of Tertullian, modernized for today’s reader and focused on prayer, discipline, suffering, and daily Christian conduct. • Christian devotion under pressure: repentance, baptism, and prayer in a hostile world • Martyrdom and endurance: faith tested in prison, suffering, and death • Moral discipline and public identity: dress, modesty, chastity, and daily witness • Marriage and self-control: rigor, fidelity, and the ordering of the Christian household This volume gathers Tertullian’s ...

The Shows or De Spectaculis, also known as On the Spectacles, is a treatise by Tertullian. Written somewhere between AD 197-202, the work comments on issues and consequences related to the attendance of circus, theatre, or amphitheater ("the pleasures of public shows"). Tertullian’s views of these public performances in the theatre are that they are immoral and lead to corruption.

Speaking of the Greek priests of Korfou, the erudite bishop of Lincoln, lately deceased, has remarked, “There is something very picturesque in the appearance of these persons, with their black caps resembling the modius seen on the heads of the ancient statues of Serapis and Osiris, their long beards and pale complexions, and their black flowing cloak, - a relic, no doubt, of the old ecclesiastical garment of which Tertullian wrote.”