Ian’s interest in Tertullian continued and he has given Papers at the International Conference on Patristic Studies, held in Oxford every four years. They have published all his Papers – the first from the 1975 Conference (‘The fate of the soul in induced abortion in the writings of Tertullian’) and the last from the 2015 Conference (‘Tertullian and Roman Law – What Do We (Not) Know?’).
They are available for download, below.
Ian’s 2015 Paper gave him particular pleasure, for two reasons. First, it combined his interest in Tertullian with another long-term interest, Roman Law, from which much of early Scots Law was derived; it was a compulsory subject for Scottish Law students when he was at university – see, on this website, ‘Law – Exam papers – 1953 – Civil Law, I and II’.
Secondly, it happened that Marcus Vinzent, the editor of Studia Patrictica, the publishers of the Conference Papers, was in the audience when Ian gave his Paper. Participants are invited to lodge their Papers with the Conference Office at the end of the week, but Marcus Vinzent asked Ian for an advance copy and sent an email, a short time later, to say that it was the first Paper to be approved for publication.
With advancing years, Ian will not manage to give any more Oxford Conferences. He is, however, working at home on an updated Bibliography of published works which have Tertullian’s name in their title – an expansion of the third download here, ‘Tertullian on and off the Internet’.
Fate of the soul in induced abortion
Tertullian’s beliefs before conversion
Tertullian on and off the internet
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Tertullian’s description of the heathen
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Tertullian and Roman Law – What Do We (Not) Know?
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The full Oxford paper “Tertullian_and_Roman_Law_Full_Paper.pdf” now available for download
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