Tertullian, an African from Carthage

I have been fortunate to spend some time today reading some of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI speeches found at Papal Wednesday Address which is a great site for things relating to our Holy Father. I have been reading more and more in preparation of our Holy Father's visit to the United States next week.

The thoughts that Pope Benedict XVI describes about Tertullian as being a great writer for the Christian faith in the late second century are truly telling of the Holy Father's plethora of Christian knowledge and really have opened my eyes.

Pope Benedict XVI states "In our catechesis on the Fathers and teachers of the early Church, we now turn to Tertullian, an African from Carthage and the first great Christian author to write in Latin. A convert to Christianity, Tertullian became an eloquent apologist for the faith, not only defending it from its detractors but striving to present positively the Gospel message in dialogue with the pagan intellectual tradition. He emphasized the unity of God while affirming the divinity of Christ and the Holy Spirit. Tertullian’s terminology of three “persons” in one divine “substance” marked a significant advance in the development of the dogma of the Trinity. His works also bear witness to the emerging understanding of the dignity of Our Lady, the nature of the Church, the Petrine Primacy, and the sacraments. Tertullian grounds the Christian life in prayer and in hope based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Converted by the sufferings of the martyrs, whose blood he called the seed of the Church (cf. Ap., 50.13), Tertullian grew increasingly rigoristic, and eventually left the Church’s communion. Yet he remains an influential witness to the Church’s rule of faith and an important figure in the perennial dialogue between the Gospel and the world of culture."

This is a great passage on the man whom gave us so much, and even though he proved himself fallible, our Holy Father judges him not. It is a great lesson of humility that we can take. Even though Tertullian was a devote man and great writer, he still thought himself better than the Church of God and couldn't accept man's fallibility.

The Pope goes on to say "When you evaluate your thought in terms of your greatness, in the end it is this greatness that is lost. The essential characteristic of a great theologian is the humility to stay with the Church, to accept her and one’s own faults, because only God is all holy. We, on the other hand, are always in need of forgiveness."

I love reading our Holy Father's thoughts and will continue to go back to Papal Wednesday Address in order to grasp more of his wisdom.