Apology
A defence of the Christians addressed to the governors of the Roman provinces by a Christian of Carthage about AD 197. It argues that Christians are condemned for a name without a hearing, and describes their meetings, their common fund and their loyalty.
Read the text at newadvent.org ↗Latin text and other translations (The Tertullian Project) ↗
The Apologeticum is addressed to the “rulers of the Roman Empire” who sit in judgment on Christians (1). Tertullian writes as a trained advocate and as a member of the community he defends. He mentions the rebels Cassius, Niger and Albinus and says that their accomplices are still being hunted down (35), which places the work soon after the civil war in which the emperor Septimius Severus defeated Albinus, in AD 197.
The book is a speech for the defence and is written to win. It is good evidence for what a Christian at Carthage said about his own church at the end of the second century: the assembly for prayer and reading, the monthly voluntary collection for the poor, orphans and prisoners (39), prayer for the emperor (30–32) and the claim that persecution only multiplies believers (50). It is weaker evidence for earlier history. Its statement that Tiberius proposed to the senate that Christ be recognised as a god (5) is found in no Roman source. Chapter 2 is the earliest Christian comment on the exchange between Pliny and Trajan.
Cited in
- about AD 112, estimated date
- about AD 197 to AD 220, estimated date