Tertullian

[Anastasia13]

How much authority does the Catholic Church give to his writings?

[Nihil Obstat]

Geez, that is a really tough one, and well beyond my own knowledge.

 

From what I understand, he is a mixed bag, which is why he will never be canonized. I believe that early on he was 'more or less' solid, and even into his semi-Montanist days he was pretty good. Although if you read into that period especially he does say some strange things. Then he does at a certain point fully lapse into Montanism, which contains quite a few doctrines that are not compatible with orthodox Christianity.

 

One variable for me personally is that I do not know precisely how solid his pre-Montanist writings are. I simply do not remember. And then even if there are elements in his earliest writings that are somewhat odd, that is true of several of the earliest Church Fathers, simply because those things were still being ironed out at that point.

 

I recall that his views on sexual morality and confession to be extremely punitive. I always forget who it was that wrote it - though I do think it was Tertullian - but the view was that a person could take advantage of confession only once in their life. Baptism was the first chance, confession the last. Tertullian also opposed Callixtus on re-admitting fornicators and murderers to the Church, apparently.

 

In general his views on asceticism were very radical. Although again, that is not necessarily unheard of among the earliest Patristics.

 

Anyway, that is basically at the very limit of my own knowledge on the subject.

Edited December 3, 2012 by Nihil Obstat