Episode 7 explores Tertullian of Carthage, the sharp legal mind who helped shape the earliest language of Western Christian theology. Writing from the vibrant intellectual world of Roman North Africa, he becomes the first major Christian thinker to express theology in Latin, giving the Church foundational terms like “Trinity,” “substance,” and “person.”

With historical context from Steve Weidenkopf and cultural insight from Justo L. González, this episode traces how Carthage became the birthplace of Latin Christianity. Jim Papandrea highlights Tertullian’s precision as the Church’s “legal mind,” while Joe Heschmeyer shows how his clarity defended the apostolic faith. Through Rodney Stark’s sociological lens, we revisit Tertullian’s famous o ...