Who was Tertullian, and what can we know about him? This work explores his social identities, focusing on his North African milieu. Theories from the discipline of social/cultural anthropology, including kinship, class and ethnicity, are accommodated and applied to selections of Tertullian’s writings. In light of postcolonial concerns, this study utilizes the categories of Roman colonizers, indigenous Africans and new elites. The third category, new elites, is actually intended to destabilize the other two, denying any “essential” Roman or African identity. Thereafter, samples from Tertullian’s writings serve to illustrate comparisons of his own identities and the identities of his rhetorical opponents. The overall study finds Tertullian’s identities to be manifold, complex and discursive. Additionally, his writings are understood to reflect antagonism toward Romans, including Christian Romans (which is significant for his so-called Montanism), and Romanized Africans. While Tertullian accommodates much from Graeco-Roman literature, laws and customs, he nevertheless retains a strongly stated non-Roman-ness and an African-ity, which is highlighted in the present monograph.

Tertullian (c. AD 160 - 225) was one of the first theologians of the Western Church & ranks among the most prominent of the early Latin fathers. His wide-ranging literary output offers a valuable insight into the Christian Church at a crucial stage in its development.

Examines Tertullian of Carthage's (160-220 C.E.) writings on dress within Roman vestimentary culture. It employs a socio-historical approach, together with insights from performance theory and feminist rhetorical analysis, to situate Tertullian's comments in the broader context of the Roman Empire.

The first accessible introduction in English to Tertullian's works, the book provides translations of Adversus Iudaeos (Against the Jews), Scorpiace (Antidote for the Scorpion's Sting) and De Verginibus Velandis (On the Veiling of Virgins).

This work compares two third century texts on idolatry: Tertullian's De Idolatria and the rabbinic Mishnah Avodah Zarah, against the background of modern discussions of the “parting of the ways” between Jews and Christians.

Was Tertullian of Cathage a schismatic? How did he view the church and its bishops? How did he understand the exercise of authority within the church? In this study David Rankin sets the writings of Tertullian in the context of the early third century church and the developments it was undergoing in relation to both its structures and its self-understanding. He then discusses Tertullian's own theology of the church, his imagery and his perception of church office and ministry. Tertullian maintained throughout his career a high view of the church, and this in part constituted the motivation for his vitriolic attacks on the church's hierarchy after he had joined the New Prophecy movement. His contribution to the development of the church has often been misunderstood, and this thorough exploration provides a timely reassessment of its nature and importance.

This book traces Tertullians handling of key doctrines and draws implications for some of todays crucial issues: Trinitarian faith, the status of creation, gender, authority and power abuse. It takes the agenda of early Christian thought seriously and finds it profoundly relevant today.