ABSTRACT
Tertullian argues for the dignity of the flesh, for its worthiness to being raised and for God’s power to do so. His arguments for the resurrection of the body are almost always based on scripture. And while he employs scripture widely as witness for the resurrection of the body, it is to the apostle at 1 Corinthians 15 in particular that he turns. He argues from examples of resurrection in nature, including that of the phoenix. He argues for the resurrection of the flesh so that it, in company with the soul, might face divine judgement. He argues for an intermediate stage between death and resurrection and contends that in this space the soul is both conscious and active. While he accepts that the resurrection body will be the same body in which a person has died, it will be that body as transformed. His arguments on the resurrection are far more nuanced than many found among earlier Christian writers, and his treatment of the challenging 1 Corinthians 15.50, to which he devotes three whole chapters of the treatise, is a good example of this.
