Tertullian on persecution and growth
“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
Plain English
Tertullian is addressing Roman authorities who think executions will frighten Christians into silence. He argues the opposite: public martyrdom makes Christian courage visible.
Why it matters
The line became the classic ancient explanation for why persecution often strengthened the church's witness.
About Tertullian
Tertullian gave the Latin West much of the vocabulary it still uses to speak about God. He wrote when serious Christian theology was still mostly Greek, and he made Latin bear words such as Trinity, person, substance, sacrament, and New Testament. Augustine and later Western theologians could argue with greater precision because Tertullian had already made the language possible. His later Montanism kept him from the usual saintly category, but his words outlived the controversy.
- Lifespan
- c. 155 – c. 220
- Era
- Ante Nicene
- Born in
- Carthage
- Region
- Africa
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