Tertullian’s ethical (disciplinary) theology has been pegged as “radically eschatological” (Sider, 1982), specifically in regard to the motives pushing his disciplinary system. In fact, one commentator has claimed that “fear [of eternal punishment] and [selfish] hope [of eternal reward] are the only two motives that really matter” to the flamboyant Carthaginian (Rambaux, 1979). More recently, Rankin (1995), drawing on Klein’s work on Tertullian’s ethics (1940), labeled Tertullian a “man of the End” who pleaded for “the necessary holiness of the church … in a thoroughly eschatological way.” This majority claim regarding Tertullian’s eschatologically “feverish” disciplinary bent (Tibiletti, 1977) has become such a mainstay in the scholarly literature dealing with Tertullian’s ethics that other major ethical motives pushing Tertullian’s rigorous holiness emphasis have been significantly underexplored. While few would deny the importance of the eschatological motive in Tertullian’s disciplinary system, other prominent motives need extended exploration and development so as to provide a better representation of the incredible diversity and complexity of Tertullian’s disciplinary motive argumentation.
Tertullian’s penitential theology, as a major moral motive in Tertullian’s ethics, has not received adequate scholarly attention, especially as it relates to the prospect of shame and the potential social and emotional repercussions of ecclesial penance, exomologesis, and excommunication. Tertullian has a nuanced approach to shame. In one sense, those guilty of mortal sin are to move away from shame and toward second penitence once they have been “ruined” (De paenitentia 7-10). But in another sense, the prospect of shame can be retained and utilized for good (i.e., sanctification, holiness) in the moral life of the Christian. For example, Tertullian warns that digamists, adulterers, and fornicators “will shed tears barren of peace and receive from the Church nothing more than the publication of their shame” (De pud. 1.21). Shame or the prospect of shame can be a powerful motivator in human behavior. This was certainly no different for the Christian communities of Carthage in the early third century. Tertullian’s ethical thought and writings—and the ethical thoughts and actions of those around him—were influenced by a very involved system of ecclesiastical penance. And although certainly not unrelated to future-oriented realities and expectations (Tertullian was an integrated thinker), other more immediate, more present-oriented aspects in Tertullian’s penitential theology, like thick, graphic descriptions of the physical/emotional brutality of exomologesis and repeated warnings about the shameful prospect of excommunication, also fueled his disciplinary exhortations. On a larger scale: The eschatological motive must not be dealt with in isolation from other salient motives that shaped Tertullian’s overall disciplinary bent; nor should the eschatological motive be hailed as overly determinative in thinking about what consistently drove Tertullian’s holiness emphasis. On a smaller scale: This paper will argue that a close examination of the more present-oriented emphases of Tertullian’s penitential theology contributes greatly toward a much-needed reassessment of the majority claim regarding Tertullian’s supposed radically eschatological disciplinary orientation.