Contemplating Tertullian

I'm following this online course about the early Christian church. I'm not sure why really but it is interesting. Anyway today's lecture was about the church in North Africa and introduced us to Tertullian. Afterwards I felt moved to write this.

Contemplating Tertullian, born in Carthage around 160 CE. 

Tertullian - Christian apologist
A Christian apologist?
One in a long line to rant
From Paul to ...
William Lane Craig perhaps,
With his interest in divine aseity.
Aseity, I hear you say
What's that?
A being exists in and of itself.
Convenient isn't it?
And it has its positive points;
Absolute independence,
Total self-sufficiency.
Yes, that has its attractions.
But what about the negative?
Well, it's unchanging;
Incapable of change.
Now, that sounds grim.
Anyway back to Tertullian.
He, like God, was conservative.
Didn't like women much.
Thought us the gateway to the devil.
But then he thought everyone was a bit iffy.
Conceived in sin,
Each soul was bound to Satan.
Its just that we women were
Closer to the dark side.
I don't like Tertullian much,
Apologist or not.

Will Power

If I knew for sure
Would I concur
In the erosion
Of my will?
I think not.
Only suspecting,
I dismiss resisting.
Give in!
Submit!
Luxuriating
In your concept
Of a freedom.

Jelly Fish

I dream of jelly fish,
Floating softly
In a blue-grey, humid, mist.
A vast array.
A bloom of jelly on the tide.

I dream of jelly fish.

And each one has
A single eye.

An eye
Like that of an old man,
Red-rimmed,
Yellowing,
Cataract-dulled
And chill

I dream of jelly fish.
And each one has an eye,
Half-focused somewhere distant
Like the sky.

Do jelly fish dream?
Perhaps they dream
Of jelly fish Cockayne,
Lost land of watery content.
Or maybe darker places,
Painful to remember,
Like their stings.