Tertullian’s Corpus
The Works of Tertullian of Carthage
Tertullian of Carthage
Two roads lead here — the one that argued with Rome and the one that argued with the heretics. Thirty-one volumes of a man who never once wondered whether he had gone too far.
- Catch rate
- Not found in the wild
- Base research
- 190
- Stat total
- 316
Base stats
Every stat is a checkable fact about the actual book, not a designer's mood. Bars are drawn against the highest value any book reaches.
Why these numbers
The game's own explanation, as a reader sees it in the backpack.
Thirty-one treatises — the whole surviving Tertullian, and the first real body of Christian writing in Latin. Very deep Stamina.
Apology, Prescription, five books against Marcion, Against Praxeas: Tertullian spent his life refuting people, and was extraordinarily good at it. It hits nearly as hard as anything you can carry — held just under Irenaeus, because Tertullian’s late break with the church cost him standing that Irenaeus kept.
Uneven, honestly. The Apology is secured by dozens of manuscripts; several other works hang on one damaged ninth-century codex, and a few titles that were still readable in that codex are simply gone now.
Athens and Jerusalem. The blood of the Christians. Certain because impossible. Few writers have been quoted more, and quotability is speed.
Cited for this book
“In the course of time, then, the Father forsooth was born, and the Father suffered” — Against Praxeas 2 (trans. Holmes, ANF 3): the error Tertullian wrote the book to stop. Thirty-one treatises survive — the first real body of Latin Christian writing, and the source of much of its vocabulary, including trinitas, which he invented. He died among the Montanists, outside the church — which is why a writer of this stature is no Doctor of the Church.
Development
A book develops as it is read — the fragment becomes the work, the work becomes the corpus.
Moves learned
By levelling up. A book that develops keeps what it knew and learns the rest on its new schedule.
| Lv | Move | Type | Cat. | Pwr | Acc | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | Trinitas | Theology Proper | Argument | 75 | 100% | 10 |
| 26 | Certain Because Impossible | Rationality | Argument | 90 | 90% | 5 |