Tertullianus (English spelling) Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus

A Christian apologist from the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Born in Carthage, North Africa, to the family of a pagan Roman centurion. He received highly advanced academic training in his youth, and was particularly knowledgeable in law and rhetoric. He gained fame as a lawyer in Rome, but at the age of 30, perhaps inspired by the steadfast attitude of the martyrs, he became a Christian and returned to his hometown, where he devoted himself to active writing within the church. However, at the age of 47, he left the church and, due to his strict personality and extreme aversion to compromise, sympathized with the Montanists (a Christian sect considered heretical), but eventually became the leader of his own party, Tertullianism. He died at an old age at least after 222. He was active as the first Latin Church Father and apologist through many works, including On the Flesh of Christ. His fiery faith, clear understanding, and highly appealing eloquence lent vigor to his work as an apologist, providing evidence for the doctrine of the Trinity and original sin, and expressing the desire for understanding paradoxical propositions such as "the resurrection of Christ is believable precisely because it is absurd."

[Nobuo Nakazawa, November 17, 2017]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

2～3世紀のキリスト教護教家。北アフリカのカルタゴで異教徒のローマ軍百人隊長の家庭に生まれる。若き日に相当高度の学問的な訓練を受け、とくに法律学、修辞学に造詣(ぞうけい)が深かった。ローマで弁護士として名声を博したが、30歳のころ、殉教者たちの確固とした態度に打たれてか、キリスト者となって故郷に帰り、教会のなかで活発な文筆活動に没頭した。しかし47歳のころ教会から離れ、妥協を極度に嫌う峻厳(しゅんげん)な性格からモンターヌス派（異端とみなされたキリスト教の一派）に共感を示したが、やがて自分の党派テルトゥリアヌス主義の指導者になった。少なくとも222年以後高齢で没した。彼は最初のラテン教父、護教家として、『キリストの肉について』など多くの著作を通して活躍した。燃えるような信仰心、透徹せる理解力、きわめて魅力のある弁舌は、彼の護教家としての活動に精彩を添え、三位(さんみ)一体論や原罪論に根拠を与えた。また「キリストの復活は不合理であるがゆえに信じられる」など、逆説的な命題に知解を求める心情を託した。

［中沢宣夫　2017年11月17日］

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