The possible relationship between the Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas, and Tertullian is one that that has intrigued scholars of many generations. It hardly seems possible that Tertullian would not have known of the dramatic martyrdom of Perpetua and her companions in his own city. However, this paper argues that Tertullian was most probably not the redactor of the Passion. The fundamental reason for this assertion is that the authors of the Passion and Tertullian appear to have clearly represented different early Christian traditions about the afterlife; indeed traditions that were in polemical conflict with each other.
This study will analyse the relevant texts in order to support these assertions. The writings of Tertullian themselves provide evidence that suggests that his relationship between his own views of the afterlife and those of the authors of the Passion of Perpetua were in polemical opposition in Carthage. The two writings may represent either two different communities or two streams of tradition within the same community. Another way of characterising the two writings is by considering Tertullian as representing “official, ecclesiastical Christianity,” while the Passion of Perpetua represents a more popular version of Christianity.
While Tertullian appears to follow the line that was held by the apostolic fathers before him, that no one enters heaven before the eschaton except the martyrs, the Passion appears to represent a popular Christianity that allowed Christians generally, and not just the martyrs, to ascend immediately to heaven after death. It is reasonable to maintain that it was Tertullian who “really laid the foundation for Latin Christendom’s doctrine of “last things.” (Daley) However, in terms of its subsequent influence, it seems that the tradition represented by the Passion of Perpetua was much more widespread than the extant literary evidence suggests. It certainly continued to increase in influence within Christianity during the succeeding centuries.
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