 The influence of Stoicism on Medieval thought has been considered by Verbeke (1983). In general, the handling of Stoic ideas in the context of Christian orthodoxy required a certain delicacy. While it was agreed by nearly all that God was not a material being, the state of the human soul was a more controversial matter. In general, orthodoxy evolved away from materialist anthropology of the sort found in Tertullian to the immaterialist notion of the soul that present-day Christians take for granted. Medieval Christians felt it necessary to reject what they called Stoic fatalism, but notions of conscience and natural law had clear connections with Stoic thought.