Introduction to This Volume

How this book is arranged

This is the sixth volume of a series that gathers the writings of the early Church in order of date, from the generation after the apostles down to the eighth century. This volume holds Tertullian’s writings against false teaching.

Within each work the text is divided into chapters and numbered sections, so that any passage can be found again and cited. The small bold figures in the text are the section numbers.

The translations

The text is in English only. Wherever a modern English version has been prepared for SermonIndex it is used here; otherwise the book prints an older public-domain translation. In both cases the wording is the translator’s own: older translations have not been altered beyond dividing them into sections. The sources for every work are listed at the back of the book, together with the licence under which each text is released. All the works in this volume are printed in older public-domain translations.

In this volume

Tertullian’s controversial writings are among the most important documents of the early Church. In the Prescription against Heretics he argues that the Scriptures belong to the Church that received them from the apostles, so that those outside it have no claim to them. The five books Against Marcion answer the teacher who rejected the Old Testament and the God of Israel, and in doing so set out in detail how the early Church read the Old Testament and the Gospel of Luke.

The shorter treatises answer other opponents in turn: Hermogenes, who held that matter had always existed alongside God; the followers of Valentinus; and Praxeas, whom Tertullian accused of confusing the Father and the Son. An Answer to the Jews is placed at the end of the volume.

The first volume of Tertullian is Volume 5, and the rest of his writings, on the Christian life, follow in Volume 7.

Dates and authorship

Dates are approximate and are debated by scholars. Each work begins with a short introduction that states what is known about its author and its date, and what is uncertain.