Tertullianische Variationen zum Thema Monotheismus

This essay analyzes Tertullian’s reflections on monotheism focusing on different works of his literary corpus, which reflect different debates against his various adversaries. In the anti-pagan writings Tertullian does not found rationally his monotheistic perspective but adapts the arguments to the needs of the polemic in order to claim for Christian’s religious freedom. The debate against Marcion – based both on the Bible and its exegesis and on rational arguments – leads Tertullian to defend a strict monotheism, which is opposed to Marcion’s ditheism, which is seen as a form of polytheism. Finally, discussing with the modalism of Praxeas, the theologian from Carthage has to justify his Trinitarian creed that could destroy a rigid monotheism and he looks for a solution uniquely within the Bible. To sum up, Tertullian’s discussion on monotheism is always dependent on the specific polemic, even if a common point is given by the "regula fidei", whose content is never questioned.