Christian Assembly in 197 CE: The Witness of Tertullian, Part 2
Post #2. Carthage, North Africa, in 197 CE. Tertullian describes a gathering of believers in Jesus for his Roman audience.
“We meet together as a gathering and congregation, marshalling our troops to surround God with prayerful supplications. This force is pleasing to God” (Coimus in coetum et congregationem, ut ad deum quasi manu facta precationibus ambiamus orantes. Haec vis deo grata est.) From Apology, 39:2.
Several points are important for conceptualizing this ancient assembly of Jesus-followers.
- He uses two different words to describe this gathering—both have the semantic range of assembly. The first refers to a coming together as a group of some sort (including military ones). The second refers to an association or gathered community. These overlapping terms highlight the importance of assembly for followers of Jesus.
- The purpose of the assembly is to approach God as a community in prayer. The verb envisions surrounding or encircling God with prayers and supplications. Given the military overtones of some of the language, we might—as some translators do—use the language of “besieging” God with our prayers. We surround God like an army surrounds the objective. The assembled people of God are engaged in a military operation, as it were, to wrestle with God through prayer. It is a communal act rather than individual one.
- These prayers are themselves pleasing to God. Tertullian describes these prayers as “vis,” which means force or power. This redefines violence, force, or power. These ancient Christians did not engage in imperial militarism but encircled God with prayers for peace and stability (as the rest of the paragraph makes clear). This is the “violence of love” (Romero entitled one of his books) expressed through prayer.
Tertullian characterizes the assembly as primarily a function of prayer. He urges believers to see themselves as a community that encircles God with a fervor and persistence, and this mimics a violent military operation. The people of God come together to pray. It is the violence of loving prayer instead of political or military violence.