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INTRODUCTION ~I~ NE OF THE METHODS employed by tbe Cbristian " Apologists for gaining a hearing for their faith was to show that, in a number of fundamental questions, many pagan philosophers and poets were in agreement with Christian teaching. In his Testimony of the Soul, Tertullian acknowledges the failure of this approach, because the foes of Christianity reject even their most admired teachers whenever they seem to uphold the truth contained in Christianity. The use of the Holy Books as a basis for argument is of no avail, because no one believes in them unless he is already a Christian. Tertullian, using a bold innovation, introduces a new method, by calling as a witness the simple, unsophisticated human soul not yet deformed by any learning. In the mouth of the common people, he argues, there are found a number of expressions which clearly reveal a notion of Christian truths, such as the belief in the one God, the belief in His goodness and uncompromising justice in rewarding and punishing beyond the grave, the belief in the existence of demons, and the belief in immortality. These expressions are spontaneous testimonies of the human soul; hence, of nature and of God Himself as its Creator. Though in some places the author offers assertions rather than proofs, his little work possesses great charm because of the warmth of feeling with which it is written. Especially effective is the way in which the soul is addressed. The Testimony of the Soul must be dated shortly after the Apology (197), to which Tertullian refers in Chapter 5: 'As we have shown in its proper place.'l As a matter of fact, The I Cf. Apol. 19. 129 130 TERTULLIAN Testimony of the Soul is little more than a further development of a sentence in the Apology (17.6): '0 testimony of the soul, which is by natural instinct Christian.' The text followed in the present translation is that of A. Reifferscheid and G. Wissowa (CSEL 20 Vienna 1890) 134 ff.; the edition by W. A. J. C. Scholte (Amsterdam 1934) was consulted throughout. SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY Texts: F. Oehler, Quinti Septimii Florentis Tertulliani Quae Supersunt Omnia I (Leipzig 1853) 399 ff. A. Reifferscheid and G. Wissowa, CSEL 20 (Vienna 1890) 134 ff. W. A. J. C. Scholte, Q. S. Florentis Tertulliani Iibellum De testimonio an imae praefatione, trans/atione, adnotationibus instructum edidit (Amsterdam 1934). Translations: S. Thelwall, The Ante·Nicene Fathers (American reprint of the Edinburgh edition) III (New York 1903) l75ff. K. A. H. Ke\lner, Tertullians ausgewiihlte Schriften I (Bib!. d. Kirchenvater 7, Kempten and Munich 1912) 203ff. Other Sources: G. Esser, Die Seelerzlehre Tertullians (Paderborn 1893) 166·176. A. Miodonski, 'Tertullian de testimonio animae,' Eos 5 (1904) 117ff. ...

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