Disciplinary, Moral, and Ascetical Works (Fathers of the Church Patristic Series)

This volume contains seven works of the zealously ascetical Christian writer of third-century Carthage, Tertullian. The first five works, composed during his Catholic period, offer detailed, strict instruction on Christian conduct, demeanor, and dress, as well as exhortations to persevere. Participation in the pagan entertainments of Roman society is ruled out. The final two essays in the volume are products of Tertullian's Montanist years, that is, his final phase. In them he rejects absolutely any possibility of Christians in public service, whether military or civil, as well as any attempt to escape from persecutors.