Tertullian

Life

His Latin name was Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus. He is believed to have been born in the mid-second century in Carthage, North Africa (in the region of present-day Tunisia). The years of his birth and death are uncertain; he is generally thought to have been born around 160 and to have died sometime after 220. He converted to Christianity as an adult and is said to have been well versed in rhetoric and law. Jerome, writing in the fourth century, recorded that he was a priest, though some scholars doubt this. By the early third century he had come to sympathize with Montanism, a movement that emphasized strict asceticism and new prophecy.

Ministry and Contributions

• Latin theology: He was one of the earliest figures to write theology in Latin. In Against Praxeas he used the word "Trinity" (trinitas) and the formula "one substance (essence), three persons." This work refuted modalism, which held that the Father and the Son are the same God merely appearing in different forms. His formulation later became the foundation for the Western church's explanation of the Trinity.
• Apologetics: In the Apology (c. 197) he argued that the Roman authorities' persecution of Christians was unjust. Apologetics is the rational defense of the faith against outside criticism. The book's phrase "the blood of Christians is seed" is commonly quoted in the altered form "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church."
• Refutation of heresies: In Against Marcion he criticized Marcionism, and in other writings he attacked teachings of a Gnostic character. The Prescription Against Heretics contains the question "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?" This saying is frequently cited in discussions of the relationship between Greek philosophy and faith.
• Sacraments: On Baptism is known as the oldest surviving work devoted solely to baptism. In it he advised that the baptism of young children should not be hastened but rather postponed. In the same work he interpreted the disciples' boat in the account of the calming of the storm as a symbol of the church.

Influence on the Korean Church

Korean churches often quote the saying "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church" when honoring figures such as Joo Ki-chul and Son Yang-won, who were martyred for opposing Shinto shrine worship.

His On Baptism is cited by both sides in the infant baptism debate. Baptists regard it as an early instance of objection to infant baptism, while denominations that practice infant baptism, such as Presbyterians and Methodists, regard it as evidence that infant baptism was already being practiced at that time.

In patristics and church history courses at theological seminaries, he is presented as an important figure in the formation of Trinitarian terminology.

Assessment

He is generally regarded as the figure who established the language of Western theology. Jerome reports that Cyprian, the third-century bishop of Carthage, read his writings daily and called him "the Master."

On the other hand, because he joined the Montanists late in life, the Catholic Church does not venerate him as a saint. His sharp stance toward philosophy has also drawn criticism for setting faith and reason too starkly against each other, though others view it as an effort to safeguard the distinctiveness of the gospel.

The saying commonly attributed to him, "I believe because it is absurd," does not appear verbatim in his writings. It is understood to be an altered form of the phrase "it is certain because it is impossible" in On the Flesh of Christ.