Latin Christianity: Tertullian

Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian (Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. 3) - Trial

Tertullian (155 - 240 AD) was a prolific Christian author from Carthage in Roman North Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of Latin Christian literature. He also was one of the first Christian apologists and he wrote extensively against heresy. Tertullian has been called "the father of Latin Christianity" as well as "the founder of Western theology."

Tertullian was conservative in his opinions and he advanced the development of early Church doctrine. He is perhaps most famous for being the first writer in Latin known to use the term trinity. Tertullian gives the oldest extant use of the terminology as later incorporated into the Nicene Creed. Other Latin formulations that first appear in his work are "three persons, one substance." Influenced by Stoic philosophy, the "substance" of Tertullian, however, was a material substance that did not refer to a single God, but to the sharing of a portion of the substance of the Father (the only being who was fully God) with the Son and, through the Son, with the Holy Spirit. He wrote his understanding of the three members of the trinity after becoming a Montanist.

Unlike many Church fathers, Tertullian is not recognized as a saint by either the Eastern or Western traditional churches. Several of his teachings on issues such as the subordination of the Son and Spirit to the Father, and his condemnation of remarriage for widows and of fleeing from persecution, contradicted established doctrines.