SS Outline 11.16.25

Christian Life: Worship, Ethics, and Daily Life of Early Christians
Focus Biography: Tertullian of Carthage (c. 160-220 AD)

I. Historical Context
A. Social Background

• By the early 3rd century, Christianity was expanding rapidly in cities of North Africa and Asia Minor.
• Christians were still illegal but increasingly visible.
• Roman culture revolved around honor, spectacle, and polytheism.
• Christians refused to join in sacrifices, festivals, or immoral entertainments.

B. Distinctive Christian Practices

• Worship
• Entertainment
• Death

II. Primary Source Reading & Analysis
Reading 1 – Apology, Chapter 39 (“The Christian Meeting”)
“We are a body knit together by one faith, one discipline, and one hope… We meet together to bring to remembrance the divine teachings. We encourage one another by holy words. With God as our judge, we pray also for our emperors, for their ministers, for all who are in authority, for the welfare of the world, for the prevalence of peace, for the delay of the final day.”
 (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 3)

Reading 2 – On the Shows, Chapter 25
“The faith of some is shaken by the mere fact that we forbid attendance at the shows. But is it right to sit where the Lord is denied, where Christ is blasphemed, where the Holy Spirit is mocked? You will bring home the devil from those places.”

Reading 3 – Apology, Chapter 50 (“The Blood of the Martyrs”)
“We multiply whenever we are mown down by you; the blood of Christians is seed.”

III. Biographical Sketch
A. Tertullian’s Life and Personality

• Born in Carthage (160 AD), highly educated in rhetoric and law.
• Converted to Christianity around 195 AD after witnessing Christian courage in persecution.
• Wrote Apology, On the Shows, On Prayer, On Baptism, and On the Veiling of Virgins.
• Died around 220 AD

B. Reflection Quote

• “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem? What concord is there between the Academy and the Church?”
(Prescription Against Heretics, 7)

IV. Theological Reflection & Modern Application
1. Distinctive Christian Ethics

• Early Christians practiced moral separation for missional witness.
• Tertullian saw holiness not as withdrawal but as light in darkness.
• The Christian conscience had to be formed by Scripture, not by Rome.

2. Worship and Community Life

• The Apology reveals early liturgical order: confession, Scripture, prayer, Eucharist, and offerings for the poor.
• Emphasis on public charity: feeding widows, caring for orphans, burying the poor.

3. Tertullian’s Legacy

• Gave Western Christianity its first great moral vocabulary:
 testimony, conscience, discipline, and witness.
• Deep influence on later thinkers: Cyprian, Augustine, Reformers.

V. Summary Points

• Tertullian shows that truth without purity is hypocrisy, and purity without grace becomes pride.
• Early Christian life was worship-centered, ethically distinct, and missionally powerful.