This is Communio Sanctorum, the history of the Christian Church, season two.

This is part six in our series titled The First Centuries in season two of Communio Sanctorum.

In the last episode, we took a look at the church father, Iranas. And this episode

we'll consider Turtulian. Now, that may prompt some to wonder if we're going to work our way

through all of the church fathers of the early church. And the answer to that is, no, we won't.

Just a few. While he's known to history

as Tertullian, his full name was Quintus Septimius Florence Turtulianus. The story of his origins,

well, it's a bit confusing. Born and raised in the North African city of Carthage,

he's said to be both a Berber and the son of a Roman centurion in the

legion that was attending the Proconsul of Africa at the time. It's not unheard of that his

father could have been both a Berber and a legionaire since by that time Rome was conscripting

soldiers from many of the people that they had conquered. Berbers were an African

ethnic group that called themselves the Amazig. The label Berber had been given to them by the Greeks.

The word is derived from their designation for all non-Greeks, and it's the word from which we get

our word barbarian. So racially, it's likely that Turtulian was a black

African. Turtulian was born sometime around AD 150 and raised as a pagan. Holding a keen mind,

he was given a great education in literature and rhetoric, most likely in preparation for practicing

the law, which was the favored

profession for young men seeking to enter the political realm in the complex game of Roman

social advancement. While the details of his conversion are missing, he came to faith in Christ

around the age of 40. Tertullian may have done a brief stint as a lawyer in Rome,

but he returned to his hometown of Carthage,

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