I’m doing some research on how the early church viewed itself in anticipation of the release later this year of a 20th anniversary edition of my book, Settlers or Sojourners?, and I found a great quote from Tertullian from the late 2nd century. His experience 150 years after the resurrection confirms what I saw in the Scripture and wrote about in the book.
In the first chapter of his Apology to the Roman Emperor and Senate, he makes the following statement:
Tertullian (AD 155-220)
Apology, Chapter 1[i]Writing about the church to the
“Rulers of the Roman Empire, . . .
seated for the administration of justice”“She [the church] knows that she is but a sojourner on the earth, and that among strangers she naturally finds foes; and more than this, that her origin, her dwelling-place, her hope, her recompense, her honors, are above.”
Please pray for me as I attempt to read everything I can get my hands on from the early church’s witness to the world. My hope is to add an appendix to the book that collects many like-minded quotes into one place to encourage future readers.
[i] Tertullian. (1885). The Apology. In A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, & A. C. Coxe (Eds.), & S. Thelwall (Trans.), Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian (Vol. 3, pp. 17–18). Christian Literature Company.
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