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Against the Valentinians

Tertullian, ANF 3

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2. Introductory. Tertullian Compares the Heresy to the Old Eleusinian Mysteries. Both…
3. These Heretics Brand the Christians as Simple Persons. The Charge Accepted, and…
4. The Folly of This Heresy. It Dissects and Mutilates the Deity. Contrasted with the Simple…
5. The Heresy Traceable to Valentinus, an Able But Restless Man. Many Schismatical Leaders…
6. Many Eminent Christian Writers Have Carefully and Fully Refuted the Heresy. These the…
7. Although Writing in Latin He Proposes to Retain the Greek Names of the Valentinian…
8. The First Eight Emanations, or Æons, Called the Ogdoad, are the Fountain of All the…
9. The Names and Descent of Other Æons; First Half a Score, Then Two More, and Ultimately a…
10. Other Capricious Features in the System. The Æons Unequal in Attributes. The Superiority…
11. Another Account of the Strange Aberrations of Sophia, and the Restraining Services of…
12. The Profane Account Given of the Origin of Christ and the Holy Ghost Sternly Rebuked. An…
13. The Strange Jumble of the Pleroma. The Frantic Delight of the Members Thereof. Their…
14. First Part of the Subject, Touching the Constitution of the Pleroma, Briefly…
15. The Adventures of Achamoth Outside the Pleroma. The Mission of Christ in Pursuit of Her.…
16. Strange Account of the Origin of Matter, from the Various Affections of Achamoth. The…
17. Achamoth Purified from All Impurities of Her Passion by the Paraclete, Acting Through…
18. Achamoth in Love with the Angels. A Protest Against the Lascivious Features of…
19. Blasphemous Opinion Concerning the Origin of the Demiurge, Supposed to Be the Creator of…
20. Palpable Absurdities and Contradictions in the System Respecting Achamoth and the Demiurge
21. The Demiurge Works Away at Creation, as the Drudge of His Mother Achamoth, in Ignorance…
22. The Vanity as Well as Ignorance of the Demiurge. Absurd Results from So Imperfect a…
23. Origin of the Devil, in the Criminal Excess of the Sorrow of Achamoth. The Devil, Called…
24. The Relative Positions of the Pleroma. The Region of Achamoth, and the Creation of the…
25. The Formation of Man by the Demiurge. Human Flesh Not Made of the Ground, But of a…
26. An Extravagant Way of Accounting for the Communication of the Spiritual Nature to Man. It…
27. The Three Several Natures-The Material, the Animal, and the Spiritual, and Their Several…
28. The Christ of the Demiurge, Sent into the World by the Virgin. Not of Her. He Found in…
29. The Demiurge Cured of His Ignorance by the Saviour’s Advent, from Whom He Hears of the…
30. The Three Natures Again Adverted to. They are All Exemplified Amongst Men. For Instance,…
31. The Lax and Dangerous Views of This Sect Respecting Good Works. That These are…
32. At the Last Day Great Changes Take Place Amongst the Æons as Well as Among Men. How…
33. Indignant Irony Exposing the Valentinian Fable About the Judicial Treatment of Mankind at…
34. These Remaining Chapters an Appendix to the Main Work. In This Chapter Tertullian Notices…
35. Other Varying Opinions Among the Valentinians Respecting the Deity, Characteristic…
36. Yet More Discrepancies. Just Now the Sex of Bythus Was an Object of Dispute; Now His Rank…
37. Less Reprehensible Theories in the Heresy. Bad is the Best of Valentinianism
38. Other Turgid and Ridiculous Theories About the Origin of the Æons and Creation, Stated…
39. Diversity in the Opinions of Secundus, as Compared with the General Doctrine of Valentinus
40. Their Diversity of Sentiment Affects the Very Central Doctrine of Christianity, Even the…