Latin Fathers • Western / Latin Christianity
c. 155 – after 220 • Apologist and theologian
Tertullian of Carthage was a prolific Latin Christian writer whose works address apologetics, ethics, persecution, Christology and church discipline. He helped shape Latin theological vocabulary, including influential formulations about Father, Son and Spirit.
His writing became foundational for Western Christian vocabulary and gives a vivid view of Christianity in Roman North Africa.
Later in life he became associated with the rigorist New Prophecy/Montanist movement, complicating his relationship to the emerging catholic mainstream.
