Tertullian and the Unborn Child by Julian Barr

Author:Julian Barr [Barr, Julian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Ancient, General
ISBN: 9781317045878
Google: NUwlDgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2017-02-17T16:20:26+00:00

Tertullian’s use of scriptural exempla

It is important, however, to consider his unique employment of Scriptures and the novelties in his construction of the unborn. Before embarking upon an exploration of Tertullian’s use of Scriptures concerning the unborn, his motives and method for using them should be noted. It is worth re-emphasising the importance of rhetoric to Tertullian’s use of scriptural evidence. As a Christian, Tertullian was certainly influenced by Scripture. However, he was also using it as a source of exempla to boost the authority of his rhetoric. As Sider and Dunn indicate, exempla drawn from Scripture were by far the most powerful for Tertullian.168 He was primarily concerned with the controversies he addressed.169 Tertullian was hardly unusual in this. Although individual authors occasionally carried out exegeses, there were no set guidelines for the interpretation of the Bible in the ante-Nicene period. Origen (AD 184/5–253/4), Hilary (c. AD 300–368) and Jerome were the earliest Fathers to attempt rigorous exegeses.170 While perspicuous interpretation and citation of Scripture were necessary for the ante-Nicene Fathers, it mostly took place in the context of polemic. This was particularly true for Tertullian, who cited Scripture as a reliable testimonium to support his claims. Biblical exegesis served his refutationes of opponents’ arguments, particularly those of fellow Christians. In citing sacred texts, Tertullian aspired to demonstrate his familiarity with Scripture. By doing so, he gave himself a greater degree of credibility as a contender in the competitive world of Christian writing.

Tertullian himself provided some indication as to his method of interpreting the Bible in Adversus Marcionem and De Resurrectione Mortuorum.171 Here, he displayed an inclination to favour literal interpretation wherever possible. Nevertheless, there were times when reading the Bible literally would result in nonsensical interpretations. In these instances, it was necessary to provide an allegorical reading of sacred text: ‘The facts (res) are held in writings; the writings are read in the facts. Therefore the form of prophetic eloquence is not allegorical either always or in all (writings), but sometimes and in some places.’172 Dunn does not believe that Tertullian’s statements of his methods in these works represented an ‘absolute principle’, but rather ‘a more relative one, applicable to the needs of a particular treatise’.173 Rather than sticking too closely to a particular method of exegesis, Tertullian generally employed the opposite method to that of his opponent. Tertullian would have made life difficult for himself as a polemicist if he had adhered to a single principle of exegesis too rigidly, depriving himself of tools for effective argument. When it suited his arguments concerning the unborn child, Tertullian did engage in a degree of allegorical interpretation of Scripture. He was not above using a scriptural allegory to explain the length of gestation, for instance.174 Perhaps Tertullian was inclined to offer allegorical interpretations regarding prenatal development and ensoulment due to the general reticence of the New Testament on these matters.

The extent to which Tertullian made use of the Vetus Latina is not entirely certain. All of Tertullian’s quotations from Scripture were presented in Latin.

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