Laying the foundations of a Christian identity: Tertullian of Carthage’s rhetoric on Marcion in ‘Adversus Marcionem’

Authors

  • Willian Fernandes Garcia Universidade Estadual de Londrina
  • Monica Selvatici Universidade Estadual de Londrina (Uel)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17648/rom.v0i15.27708

Keywords:

Tertullian, Marcion, Identity, Christianity History

Abstract

In this article we analyze Tertullian of Carthage’s arguments concerning the “heretic” Marcion. By that, we are able to see how Christian identity was built up fundamentally by the rhetorical opposition between “true” Christianity against “false Christianities”, in this case represented by Marcionism. Relying on anthropologist Fredrik Barth’s theory of Ethnicity we are able to understand the process of construction (or deconstruction) of an adversary carried out by Tertullian at the same time as he built up the premises of his Christian identity through comparison between the ideas he judged correct in opposition to what was supposedly preached by his opponents.

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Author Biography

Monica Selvatici, Universidade Estadual de Londrina (Uel)

Professora do Programa de Pós-graduação em História Social da Universidade Estadual de Londrina, mestra em História Social pela Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, doutora em História pela Universidade Estadual de Campinas, pesquisadora do Núcleo de Estudos Estratégicos da mesma universidade e integrante do grupo de pesquisa sobre o Jesus Histórico da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.

References

Documentação textual

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Published

30-06-2020

How to Cite

GARCIA, Willian Fernandes; SELVATICI, Monica. Laying the foundations of a Christian identity: Tertullian of Carthage’s rhetoric on Marcion in ‘Adversus Marcionem’. Romanitas - Revista de Estudos Grecolatinos, [S. l.], n. 15, p. 195–212, 2020. DOI: 10.17648/rom.v0i15.27708. Disponível em: https://periodicos.ufes.br/romanitas/article/view/27708. Acesso em: 17 jul. 2024.

Issue

No. 15 (2020): janeiro-junho

Section

Open subject

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