Tertullian’s Baptismal Spirituality in His De Baptismo and Its Value Today

Abstract

Tertullian wrote extensively on the subject of baptism. Tertullian’s mention of baptism is surveyed throughout his corpus. Special attention is paid to his De Baptismo and other pre-Montantist works. Tertullian’s De Baptismo 18 has received significant use by Presbyterians, Baptists, and Stone-Campbellites. De Baptismo 18 is exegeted in context, interpretations of the text by David Wright, Everett Ferguson, and Brian Brewer are analyzed, and the value of Tertullian’s baptismal theology for today is assessed.