ABSTRACT
Without a doubt, Against the Jews is one of the most controversial of Tertullian’s thirtyone treatises. It is not too difficult to understand why. To begin with, there have been questions about the integrity of the text and its authorship. Much of the material from chapter 9 onwards is virtually identical with sections of book three of Against Marcion. From Augustus Neander in the middle of the nineteenth century onwards, a significant number of scholars (Quispel 1943:61-79; Quasten 1953:269; Kroymann (see Gerlo et al.)1954:1338) have reached the conclusion that the second half of the treatise was not by Tertullian and that someone had taken the material from the earlier Against Marcion and rather ineptly attached it to the first eight chapters, which Tertullian had written. Efroymson called this the majority view among scholars today (Efroymson 1979:116). Ernest Evans, who has translated Tertullian’s Against Marcion into English, even questioned the authenticity of the first half of Against the Jews, believing that the early chapters lack much of Tertullian’s usually forthright energy (Evans 1972:1:xx). So the Clavis Patrum Latinorum lists Against the Jews as one of Tertullian’s doubtful works (Dekkers 1995:9). Frend considers it to be one of his less significant works (Frend 1968:6).
