Learn about Tertullian, the first major Latin Christian writer, his apologetic works, defense of the Trinity, and his influence on early church theology.
Who Was Tertullian?
Tertullian was a Christian teacher from Carthage in North Africa, near modern Tunis. He was born to a pagan family around AD 155 and became a Christian as an adult, probably before 197. He was trained in rhetoric and possibly law.
He wrote more than 30 surviving works, almost all in Latin. Scholars often call him the father of Latin theology.
Major Works
Apology (Apologeticum), written in AD 197 to the governors of the Roman provinces.
Against Marcion, five books and his longest work.
On the Flesh of Christ, defending the real body of Jesus.
On the Resurrection of the Flesh, defending the bodily resurrection.
Apologies
Tertullian argued that Rome broke its own laws when it punished Christians. Emperor Trajan had told officials not to hunt Christians down but to punish them when accused. Tertullian pointed out the flaw. If Christians are guilty, why not search for them? If innocent, why punish them?
Apology chapter 50 contains his most quoted idea. The more Rome killed Christians, the more they multiplied, because the blood of Christians is seed.
Against Marcion
Marcion taught that the Creator in the Old Testament was a lesser god and that Jesus revealed a different, higher God. He cut the Bible down to an edited Luke and ten letters of Paul. Tertullian answered him book by book, using Marcion’s own shortened Bible to prove that Jesus and Paul both affirmed the Creator.
On the Flesh of Christ and On the Resurrection of the Flesh
Some teachers said Christ had no real human body. Tertullian answered that Christ’s birth, death, and resurrection were real events in real flesh. If the flesh was fake, then the death and the salvation were fake too.
He extended the same argument to believers. God will raise the same body that died. The body is part of the person God saves.
Development of Latin Theology and Clear Christian Terminology
In Against Praxeas, written around 213, Tertullian coined language the Western church still uses. He describes God as one substance in three persons. He is the first known writer to use the Latin word trinitas.
He also defended the book of Enoch in On the Apparel of Women, book 1, chapter 3. He argued that Christians should accept it because it speaks of the Lord.
A Divided Legacy
Later in life Tertullian joined the New Prophecy movement, often called Montanism, and became harshly critical of the mainstream church. For that reason the church never counted him a saint. His writings still shaped nearly every Western theologian who came after him.
He also asked a famous question in Prescription Against Heretics, chapter 7: “What indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” He distrusted philosophy that bent the gospel to fit it.
How to Read Tertullian Today
Start with the Apology. It has 50 chapters and reads in about 2 hours.
Read On the Flesh of Christ next. It is short and focused.
Read Against Praxeas for the doctrine of the Trinity.
His works are free in the Ante‑Nicene Fathers, volumes 3 and 4.
About the Author
CK Quarterman is a USAF veteran, independent author, and publisher at CKQbooks. He writes the Malaterrestrials nonfiction series, which examines evil earthbound non‑human intelligences through Scripture and history, along with the Watchers’ Universe and Sons of the Flood fiction series. Find his books at ckqbooks.com.
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