De Spectaculis: The Shows

Tertullian, a convert to Christianity, lived and wrote in the North African city of Carthage. Although he never held a clerical post, his influence on Christianity, especially in the West, was enormous. His writings include apologetic, theological, controversial, and ascetic works. He never shied away from discoursing against those he believed to be expounding against the "rule of faith." He is the first major Christian author to write in Latin and to provide Latin terminology for trinitarian theology. Tertullian's theological interests centered around his concern for the purity and holiness of the church. The importance of these issues eventually led Tertullian to join the Montanist sect, which emphasized the immediacy of the spirit, ecstatic prophecy, and a moral strictness.