This volume brings together essays presented at a seminar of the Groupe de Recherche sur l'Afrique Antique at Montpellier early in 2014 which examined the question of Tertullian's African-ness. It is fantastic to see this volume in print in so timely a fashion. It contains ten chapters divided into two parts: the first concerned with more general themes about influences, doctrine and the literature of Tertullian and the second on more particular themes. All but two of the essays are in French (of the other two one is in English and the other German).
Scholarship on Tertullian is well served with the annual Chronica Tertullianea et Cyprianea appearing in the Revue d’études augustiniennes et patristiques which reviews publications on these two early Christian African authors. Perhaps the most enduring part of this volume will prove to be the more than forty pages of Clavis Tertulliani Operum, in the style of the Clavis Patrum Latinorum, directing scholars to critical editions, translations and studies of individual works of Tertullian. It is an unexpected bonus, judiciously selected and up to date.
The notion of Tertullian's African-ness is one that builds upon the 2001 conference in Algeria on Augustinus Afer published in 2003, the 2014 study of Patout Burns and Robin Jensen on Christianity in Roman North Africa, and, more specifically, the 2007 monograph of David Wilhite, Tertullian the African. Lagouanère has been critical of Wilhite's desire to separate from and subordinate Tertullian's Roman-ness to his African-ness. The criticism is that concepts such as African-ness and Roman-ness are too rigid and anachronistic and not reflective of understandings on the ground. It would seem that the conference was held to challenge the notion that Roman-ness was the key opposition identity against which Tertullian reacted. The very notion of African-ness is something that is downplayed in this volume, despite the suggestiveness of its title. The essays do not so much argue this as merely accept it.
Most of the essays examine not so much the question of Tertullian's African-ness as Tertullian's impact upon later African writers. Paul Mattei, whose work is mainly restricted to French scholarship, although there are some Italian and German works in his bibliography, looks at Tertullian's Trinitarian and Christological language, and sees how it influenced Augustine, and how formulae or aphorisms were later employed (not in ways that he always intended) in the later tradition, and that he is not to be regarded as the father of western Trinitarian theology.
There are two papers on Tertullian and the soul. The first, by Petr Kitzler, in English, examines the notion of the soul's corporeality (i.e., the soul must have its own body, albeit an immaterial one). There does not appear to be much new here that has not already been posited in the author's 2009 Wiener Studien article. Further, while it is a solid and very useful introduction to Tertullian's theological anthropology and well worth reading on that basis alone, it does not relate in any way to the theme of the volume. The second essay, by Jérôme Lagouanère, looks at Tertullian's notion of the soul in the hands of Augustine, whose concerns with Pelagianism cause him to find fault with some of Tertullian's ideas.
The notion of Donatism's appeal to Cyprian is common in scholarship, but the idea that Tertullian was the Donatist inspiration is not one that has warranted a great deal of attention despite the claim made by William Frend. Elena Zocca looks at this very question and finds that apart from a shared rigorism, there is little direct influence of Tertullian on Donatism. This is certainly a topic worthy of further contributions. Sabine Fialon looks at Tertullian's influence on the production of hagiographical literature in North Africa and finds that he did have an impact on Donatist martyrial works from Mauretania Caesariensis.
Laetitia Ciccolini considers Tertullian as Cyprian's magister in terms of the scriptural citations and allusions that they share. The notion that Cyprian was heavily dependent upon Tertullian is not new and while an investigation into their shared use of Scripture is welcome, it is not something unfamiliar to those who write on these two African authors.
Two essays look at Tertullian and Lactantius. The first, by Blandine Colot, contrasts these two African writers’ approaches to non-Christian philosophy, seeing Tertullian much more concerned with ecclesial realities and heretics and Lactantius concerned with broader social affairs in which philosophy is to be rejected. The second, in German, by Stefan Freund, considers how little use Lactantius made of Tertullian apart from Apologeticum and Ad Scapulam and how different their styles were.
Laurence Mellerin presents Tertullian and Augustine on the question of the forgiveness of the unforgiveable sin of Matthew xii.31–2 and 1 John v.16. For Augustine, the sin is unforgiveable not because the Church cannot forgive but because the sinner does not want to be forgiven.
Finally, Jean Meyers looks at the survival of Tertullian in the Middle Ages, and sees how rich were the allusions in medieval authors to Tertullian and how well Tertullian survived in the manuscript tradition. This very short study will be of particular interest to those involved in manuscript studies.
What could have been a very exciting volume debating the notion of Tertullian's African-ness turns out to be a much more traditional volume generally looking at Tertullian's reception in later African authors. The individual essays all make a valuable contribution to scholarship. The volume will undoubtedly be of much use to scholars interested in Tertullian and those interested in other Christian authors from Africa who want to trace the sources for the later African tradition.
