Virtus Veritatis. Language et vérité dans l'œuvre de Tertullien (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Virtus Veritatis. Language et vérité dans l'œuvre de Tertullien Geoffrey Dunn Frédéric Chapot Virtus Veritatis. Language et vérité dans l'oeuvre de Tertullien Collection des Études Augustiniennes, Série Antiquité 186 Paris: Institut d'Études Augustiniennes, 2009 Pp. 359. €28.44. Chapot is well qualified for this monograph on Tertullian's reflection on the nature of truth. For more than a decade this French scholar has produced a steady stream of publications, including an edition of Aduersus Hermogenem for Sources Chrétiennes. This is a welcome volume from him and a fine addition to the CEASA. At the end of his second book of Aduersus Marcionem, in which he sought to demonstrate that Marcion's creator god and the God of the Hebrew Scriptures were in fact one and the same good God who is also just, Tertullian produces a maxim (see Aristotle, Rh. 2.21) to justify why he was finishing the book at this point: ". . . the power of truth is quick in action, content with few words . . ." (Evans's translation, expedita uirtus ueritatis paucis amat—Adu. Marc. 2.28.3, although Chapot cites it as 2.29.1 [72, 303]). While here this may simply be a rhetorical tool to justify a short response to an opponent's lengthy exposition, Chapot argues that the truth was a powerful force as far as Tertullian was concerned. He investigates Tertullian's language about truth in the context of the classical and Christian traditions Tertullian inherited. The opening chapter (15–91) is a survey of Tertullian's understanding of truth, particularly with regard to the natural ability to know God (and the obstacle of sin) and the supernatural revelation by God. Of course, Tertullian believed that he was always defending the truth, just as his opponents promoted the opposite. Truth could be discerned from the world of nature or human reasoning: in De uirg. 7–8 Tertullian argued about the logic of the order of nature to argue for the truth (Adu. Val. 3; Adu. Marc. 1.18), yet in another work (De test. 1), while there may be elements of the truth in the teaching of non-Christian philosophy, there was so much that was untrue in it that is was less than reliable. The only sure way to know the truth was through God's revelation (Apol. 18), centered in Christ and further revealed through the Spirit, a point no doubt important in Tertullian's Montanist phase. That revelation is contained in Scriptures and expressed through the rule of faith (De praescr.). This leads into the second chapter (93–153) on how the truth guides active Christian life. After an overview of Christianity within the pagan environment, Chapot considers how adherence to the truth enables Christian resistance to that world of idolatry opposed to the truth, according to Tertullian. Christian life must conform to the will of God. This applied equally to heretic Christians as to non-Christians (De praescr. 40). In the third chapter (155–232) the focus shifts Christian behavior to Christian thinking, particularly to the importance of language in revealing the truth about God. What is highlighted here is the importance of naming and correct definition. Associated with that is the matter of the interpretation of revelation, and who has the right interpretation. Chapot draws attention to the importance [End Page 336] of proprietas in Tertullian. The last part of the chapter considers Tertullian's understanding of falsehood. The final chapter (233–301) explores Tertullian's etymological and allegorical analysis of language in his quest for the truth against both pagans and heretics. The overall relationship between this chapter and the theme of the book is less firmly established than in the previous chapters and unless one is interested in semantics this chapter is a more difficult read than the others. Nevertheless there is a wealth of valuable analysis here on Tertullian's style as an author for the persistent reader. This is a well-written work in French that will be of value to the scholar. The bibliography is fine, reflecting a familiarity with most of the relevant research in the major modern languages, and the indices are...