A não-violência no Apologeticum de Tertuliano

: contributo para uma teologia da não-violência cristã

Abstract

The violence that, during the first Christian centuries, in a localized, sporadic, and almost random way, affected the Christians, motivated, on the part of the Christian intellectuals of the time, a reaction translated into the taking of the oral and written word. We thus have at our disposal a significant body of writings in defense of Christians addressed rhetorically to the civil and political authorities of the time. Among these stands out Tertullian who, at the end of the second century, with his work Apologeticum, intervened, using all the rhetorical “weapons” in favor of Christians.His work Apologeticum, which we take as the main source of our dissertation, is an unavoidable reference for understanding what the confrontation between two “worlds” governed by values and criteria often in conflict meant.In this paper we intend to analyze the theme of nonviolence in the pologeticum. We are especially interested in verifying the pacifist content of the response given by an illustrious spokesman for Christians, in an openly controversial context and in a culture in clear contrast to the new faith, professed by more and more adherents.

Date of Award	10 Jul 2023
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Isidro Lamelas (Supervisor)