Tertullian
Latin Christian theologian and apologist (c. 155–c. 220), born in Carthage, North Africa, trained in rhetoric and probably law before his conversion to Christianity as an adult, and generally regarded as the 'father of Latin theology', being the first major Christian author to write systematically in Latin rather than Greek, coining in the process much of the technical Latin theological vocabulary that the Western Christian tradition would use for centuries, including fundamental terms such as 'trinitas' (Trinity), 'persona' applied to the divine hypostases, and 'substantia' to refer to the single divine essence. His work Apologeticus (197), addressed to Roman governors, defended Christians with mordant, sarcastic rhetorical eloquence against popular accusations of cannibalism, incest and civic disloyalty, arguing that their exemplary moral conduct and their readiness for martyrdom — 'the blood of the martyrs is seed', his most famous phrase — demonstrated the validity of their faith, while denouncing the procedural injustice of persecuting them merely for the name 'Christian' without trial of their concrete actions. Philosophically, Tertullian is remembered above all for his radically anti-intellectualist, anti-philosophical stance on the relationship between faith and reason, summed up in his famous rhetorical question 'what has Athens to do with Jerusalem?' and in the phrase, often misquoted as 'credo quia absurdum' ('I believe because it is absurd'), with which he expressed his conviction that revealed Christian truth, far from needing Greek philosophical validation, transcends and even deliberately contradicts worldly reason, this very scandalous paradox being precisely what guarantees its divine origin. Despite this distrust of pagan philosophy, his own theological argumentation displays notable rhetorical and dialectical sophistication, owed precisely to his classical education. In his later years, Tertullian joined Montanism, a rigorist, prophetic Christian movement regarded as heterodox by the mainstream Church, which has complicated his later canonisation as a Church Father despite his decisive and lasting doctrinal influence.