This past Wednesday Pope Benedict focused on Tertullian in his general audience (English translation from ZENIT). Tertullian is fascinating, both as a towering (and now underappreciated) figure of the early Church, and as a cautionary tale of sorts. What really struck me about this, though, is the amazing amount that Benedict teaches. He deals with themes in Tertullian including the nature of Christian dialogue with the surrounding culture, non-violence, the centrality of hope in Christianity (which to me is a particularly great aspect), the Trinitarian formulation of one substance and three persons, and several other things. I'm not sure whether to be more impressed by the breadth of Tertullian's theological accomplishment, or the amount of substance Benedict squeezes into one Wednesday audience. Benedict, obviously a great theologian himself, has some particularly good words in relation to the downfall of Tertullian, and the proper relationship of the theologian to the Church:

"This great moral and intellectual personality, this man who gave such a great contribution to Christian thought, makes me think. It is evident that at the end he lacks simplicity, the humility to belong to the Church, to accept his weaknesses, to be tolerant of others and with himself.

When you evaluate your thought in terms of your greatness, in the end it is this greatness that is lost. The essential characteristic of a great theologian is the humility to stay with the Church, to accept her and one's own faults, because only God is all holy. We, on the other hand, are always in need of forgiveness."