Tertullian’s the Prescription Against Heretics

The early perform was birthed finished persistence against intense persecution (i) physical persecution by the governments of the time which lauded the oppression, imprisonment, torture and death of deliverymanians for their hot religious doctrines and (ii) soulual persecution by opposing religious sects who sort to doom the doctrines of Christianity. The Prescription Against Heretics was written in response to the last mentioned to defend the tenets of Christianity against the sour instructs of heretics and religious- lay down philosophers.Heretics promoted controversial views which were in op come out to those offered by Christian doctrine, with the object of creating pursuit of their beliefs. Religio-philosophers were quasi-Christians who promoted the wasting disease of agreement and logic to understand Christianity and in doing so, never meet Christians. Tertullian saw the end of philosophy as heresy and categorizes both as the kindred. Tertullian defends Christ ianity by describing heresies as powerless, f aloneible and besides expressive of a omit of cartel he therefore provides a mold of faith as a measure and the authority for Christianity.Tertullian was born in the city of Carthage, northerly Africa, around 160 C. E. He was raised as a pagan, was fitting to read and write in Greek and Latin and received an subtile education in grammar, lit geological erature, philosophy, law and rhetoric. He became a Stoic scarce later converted to Christianity at the age of forty years. Within gothic Christian history, Tertullian is classified as an Apologist a theologian who, during the era of violent persecution of Christians, used writings to defend Christianity against its challengers.His apolo leaseic writing, The Prescription Against Heretics, reads as a legal defense argument against philosophers and influential heretics such as Marcion, Plato, Valentinus, Zeno and the Stoics. Many of these were exploitation logic to question Christ ianity and created doubt in most of the believers, which attracted Christians away from the Faith. In chapter fourteen of The Prescription, Tertullian stated that he felt chastely obligated to counteract the program lines of heretics.This was perhaps because he had firsthand experience with the flaws of religio-philosophical cogitate and now, through his conversion, experiencing the in- psyche joys of faith in Christianity. Tertullians first declivity of defense against heresies was to show that they atomic number 18 indeed powerless and inconsequential to the competency of Christianity. In doing so, he is able to circumvent the trepidation that the early Christians may drop had regarding heretical influences. Any advance of a heretical teaching against the Church would be whole temporary and unsuccessful much interchangeable a short-lived, passing illness.According to Tertullian, heresies are only powerful in show because of the few individuals who were already weak in their faith and allowed themselves to be ensnarled in the whims of false teachings. For these individuals to be drawn away has no effect on the veracity of Christianity. Airing confidence in his argument, Tertullian says, Heresies derive such persuasiveness as they have from the infirmities of individuals having no strength whenever they encounter a rattling powerful faith, his new constitute faith, Christianity.As a shepherd expects and accepts that wolves exit after his flock and in fact capture a few, in like manner Tertullian parallels the existence of heresies in Christendom. He uses this allegory to shape up the second century Christians with the view that non only did the Lord forewarned the Church that heresies testament arise and believers some will indeed be dismission only when also that they should celebrate their proven faithful to God by not allowing themselves to be trapped by the heretics.Continuing to promote the authority of Christianity, Tertullian ass erts that heresies only exist because God is using them to train and strengthen the faith of the believers. early(a) than that, they are simply foolishness. Tertullian clears the slate of all the popular vatic intellectuals by revealing their fallibility no matter how well-intended, all of their teachings amount to the same questions repeated in different ways by different the men, but producing the same resultant that is, there will never be an answer until you accept the overarching authority of the Scripture of God.Tertullian asked the question, What has Athens to do with Jerusalem? , to foreshadow out that philosophical methods of inquiry have nothing to do with teaching by the authority of scripture and the church alone has the authority to arrest what is and what is not orthodox Christianity. Perhaps Tertullian had discovered this reality in his personal search for truth based upon intellectualism and saw that he had to relinquish his intellect to the ultimate authorit y of God and in doing so he found fulfillment.Tertullian is covering every argument that a heretic may use to justify himself, especially in their passion for attempting to juxtapose philosophy with Christianity, and using scripture to support their continual questions. He is using his legal footing and training in rhetoric to give support to the Church. In The Prescription, Tertullian presently identifies the seek, and ye shall find scripture (Matthew 77) as a prominent conversion misunderstood and misused by heretics to justify their continual wondering(a) of the condition of God.He argues that heretics take this scripture out of context and interpret what was meant literally for the Judaic community of Jesus time as the same for the heretics of his day. Tertullian supports this argument from the face that, like him, the heretics are Gentiles and in the time of Jesus, Gentiles did not have vex to salvation. Therefore, they had no knowledge of what to seek, where to knock o r who to ask. This access only came through the instruction of the apostles by virtue of the Holy Ghost.His conclusion was that this Scripture was only to be used as a figurative example for the heretics and therefore they should cease to question divine scripture. This misinterpretation only adds to the unreliability and the want of the human intellect of heretics as sources of truth compared to the church which has access to ecclesiastic Truth. According to Tertullians argument, because heretics continue to seek it means that they have found what they were looking for, if they have not found, they cannot believe and if they do not believe, they are not Christians.And if they are not Christians then they have no indemnify to quote or discuss the account book inside or impertinent the Church. To separate his intellect from those of the heretics and to show himself to as a true Christian with divine permission to use the Bible, Tertullian draws many of his examples directly fro m the Scriptures. Tertullian argued that Christians and heretics use the Bible for different reasons. Christians use it to access truth in God and to make up their faith while oppositely, it was the use of philosophy which drove heretics to continual prying inquires of the Scripture.But, in reality these inquires amounted to a lack of faith by the philosophers. His position was that once an individual had sought and found truth in the teachings of Christ, that person need not seek anything further and should fully believe in that which he had found. To keep seeking meant that the individual had not believed or had faith in what they had found in Christ. This would be core measure mingled with a Christianity and heresy. A Christian seeks the word of God, finds it and believes this is faith and this is therefore a Christian.For a heretic, he goes into the scripture without knowing what he is looking for and questioning everything he finds in the scripture this is a lack of faith and this is not a Christian. For Tertullian, the solution was a complete expulsion of philosophers because they will never know for what they are seeking, where they are knocking or to whom they are asking, and to have them around would only give possibilities for them to destroy the Church. He urges Christians to not get involved in discussions with philosophers and heretics and to only discuss matters related to Christ with some other Christians, without weakening the rule of faith.He offers a summary of the Christian creed, the rule of faith, as the basis for inquiry and once an individual had found truth in the rule regarding the role of God, The Son and the Holy Spirit, there should be no further searching. In his writing, Tertullian uses Luke 1842 to assert that it is the faith of individuals that would hold on them and not their ability to debate Scripture. The truth of their belief lies in the rule of faith and to go outside of the rule would be to enter into heresy which inevitably will lead to destruction.In this period of questioning and persecutions, Tertullian felt that all Christians must know what they have obtained through God and through the scripture. With this faith, they will not be shaken by threats of violence from the government and the threats of putridness by the heretics. Tertullians position in the separation of Christianity from philosophy and heresies is that the latter two have no connection with the former. Philosophy is not based upon faith but rather distracts away from it and induces heresies.In turn, heresies induce further heresies and it is the intention of these heretics to seduce Christians away from their original doctrinal beliefs. He illustrates this by purporting that intellect cannot understand the spiritual and the people who believe in intellect cannot be considered a part of the church. To unite the two polarities, Christianity and philosophy, would be to create a polluted doctrine. Christians must not allow th emselves to be swayed by the religio-philosophical serve of using scripture.He also offers that there is nothing more enjoyable that Christianity and because of the pleasures from Christs teachings there was no need to search for anything further. Whether in philanthropy or in condemnation, Tertullian attempts to use his Prescription Against Heretics as an uncontestable argument in defense of his Christianity against the vices of heretics and religio-philosophers. According to Tertullian, everything that an individual needs can be found in the rule of faith the most enjoyable belief, which he has discovered and now vigorously defend.