Tertullian

Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus was born in Carthage, in Roman North Africa, about AD 155 to 160. Jerome later said his father was a centurion. He was trained in rhetoric and law, and became a Christian as an adult, probably in the 190s. He wrote in Latin, and is the first major Christian author to do so.

More than thirty of his works survive. The Apology, about AD 197, addresses Roman governors in defense of Christians, and ends with the saying that the blood of Christians is seed. The Prescription Against Heretics argues that heretics cannot appeal to the Scriptures, which belong to the churches that hold what the apostles handed down: “What indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” (chapter 7). He also wrote Against Marcion, On Baptism, the earliest surviving treatise on the subject, and On Prayer.

In Against Praxeas, about AD 213, he argues that Father, Son and Spirit are distinct and yet one God. He did it in words that shaped Latin theology: trinitas, persona and substantia. His is the earliest surviving use of trinitas in Latin.

In his later works he sided with the Montanists, a movement of prophecy and strict discipline, and criticizes the church for laxity. The year of his death is unknown, after about AD 220.