The first point in Celsus’ argument against the biblical truth is the origin of the Jewish people and Christian faith. Celsus On the True Doctrine. Further, Celsus argues that Christian doctrine twisted the Greek concept of immortality of the soul into the resurrection. Let no one come to us who has been instructed, or who is wise or prudent (for such qualifications are deemed evil by us); but if there be any ignorant, or unintelligent, or uninstructed, or foolish persons, let them come with confidence. [3] On The True Doctrine is the earliest known comprehensive criticism of Christianity. And to those enemies of our faith who require us to bear arms for the commonwealth, and to slay men, we can reply: "Do not those who are priests at certain shrines, and those who attend on certain gods, as you account them, keep their hands free from blood, that they may with hands unstained and free from human blood offer the appointed sacrifices to your gods; and even when war is upon you, you never enlist the priests in the army. Why ought the others, because of these acts, to be accounted wicked rather than this man, seeing they have him as their witness against himself? If they refuse to render due service to the gods, and to respect those who are set over this service, let them not come to manhood, or marry wives, or have children, or indeed take any share in the affairs of life; but let them depart hence with all speed, and leave no posterity behind them, that such a race may become extinct from the face of the earth. Highly critical of several specific facts in Christian theology, the philosopher sought to unravel the religion by pulling at the errors he saw. Reihe: Kommentar zu frühchristlichen Apologeten (KfA, Suppl.-Vol. It is the nature of a mortal, indeed, to undergo change and remoulding, but of an immortal to remain the same and unaltered. [3] It was written between about 175[6] and 177,[7] shortly after the death of Justin Martyr (who was possibly the first Christian apologist), and was probably a response to his work. For he has himself acknowledged that these are not the works of a divine nature, but the inventions of certain deceivers, and of thoroughly wicked men. 2005 (, This page was last edited on 21 December 2020, at 21:23. 22$ tation by Origen, who in the latter part of his life2 under took the task of replying to Celsus at the request of his friend Ambrose.3 With great reluctance Origen took up the work. Celsus goes on to say: "They must make their choice between two alternatives. As an anti-Christian Greek philosopher, Celsus mounted an attack on Christianity. To this our answer is, that we do, when occasion requires, give help to kings, and that, so to say, a divine help, "putting on the whole armour of God." Is it not, then, a miserable inference, to conclude from the same works that the one is God and the other sorcerers? [6], Celsus was the author of a work titled On The True Doctrine (Logos Alēthēs). Celsus divided the work into two sections, the one in which objections are put in the mouth of a Jewish interlocutor and the other in which Celsus speaks as the pagan philosopher that he is. Find books Celsus' writing is one of the few writings made in response to christian claims that survives today in any form; the church, beginning with its first alliances with Roman power in Constantine's time, never took criticisms lightly; anyone with the audacity to question their claims was branded a "heretic," and their books were banned and burned, often alongside their authors. Celsus's tract `On the True Doctrine - A Discourse Against the Christians' could be partly recovered from the treatise by Origin of Alexandria `Contra Celsum'. [1][2][3] He is known for his literary work, On The True Doctrine (or Discourse, Account, Word; Hellenistic Greek: Λόγος Ἀληθής, Logos Alēthēs),[4][5] which survives exclusively in quotations from it in Contra Celsum, a refutation written in 248 by Origen of Alexandria. 1), hrsg. A second-century Roman philosopher credited with producing the first extensive written attack on the Christian faith . Celsus Arguments Against Christianity Essay 1677 Words | 7 Pages. But as Celsus delights to heap up calumnies against us, and, in addition to those which he has already uttered, has added others, let us examine these also, and see whether it be the Christians or Celsus who have reason to be ashamed of what is said. Indians, Persians, Odrysians, Samothracians, Eleusinians, Hyperboreans, Galactophagoi, Druids, and Getae), and instead blames Moses for the corruption of the ancient religion: "the goatherds and shepherds who followed Moses as their leader were deluded by clumsy deceits into thinking that there was only one God, [and] without any rational cause ... these goatherds and shepherds abandoned the worship of many gods". … It seemed as if it ere common knowledge the transgressions that Jesus mother had committed with the Roman. It was written between about 175 and 177, shortly after the death of Justin Martyr(who was possibly the … This second century opponent of Christianity argued against the Christian idea of a divine creation of man. [29] As for their opinions regarding their sacred mission and exclusive holiness, Celsus responds by deriding their insignificance, comparing them to a swarm of bats, or ants creeping out of their nest, or frogs holding a symposium round a swamp, or worms in conventicle in a corner of the mud. Related. But if he come down among men, he must undergo a change, and a change from good to evil, from virtue to vice, from happiness to misery, and from best to worst. 57). A Discourse Against the Christians | Celsus, R. Joseph Hoffman (transl.) Celsus was a Greek philosopher and one of the first people to write a critical treatise on Christianity. [26][clarification needed] Conceding that Christians are not without success in business (infructuosi in negotiis), Celsus wants them to be good citizens, to retain their own belief but worship the emperors and join their fellow citizens in defending the empire. And this service is at once necessary and right. Celsus presents Jews and Christians as descendants of the rebellion against ancient peoples, who held and practiced an ancient And it is not for the purpose of escaping public duties that Christians decline public offices, but that they may reserve themselves for a diviner and more necessary service in the Church of God--for the salvation of men. Celsus had warned that Christianity itself was drawing people away from traditional religion and claimed that its growth would lead to a collapse of traditional, conservative values. ocr-64 p-64 224 THE ATTACK OF CELSUS ON CHRISTIANITY. And while thus speaking, if they see one of the instructors of youth approaching, or one of the more intelligent class, or even the father himself, the more timid among them become afraid, while the more forward incite the children to throw off the yoke, whispering that in the presence of father and teachers they neither will nor can explain to them any good thing, seeing they turn away with aversion from the silliness and stupidity of such persons as being altogether corrupt, and far advanced in wickedness, and such as would inflict punishment upon them; but that if they wish (to avail themselves of their aid,) they must leave their father and their instructors, and go with the women and their playfellows to the women's apartments, or to the leather shop, or to the fuller's shop, that they may attain to perfection;--and by words like these they gain them over.". One of the highlights of that time period is the vibrant interaction between Christians and their critics. Show More. On the contrary to what the Christian religion believes Celsus says that Jesus was born to a mother who was a spinner, and his legitimate father a Roman soldier, Panthera (Celsus pg. Those who are ambitious of ruling we reject; but we constrain those who, through excess of modesty, are not easily induced to take a public charge in the Church of God. θής), which survives exclusively in Origen's quotations from it in Contra Celsum.This work, c. 177 is the earliest known comprehensive attack on Christianity. And those who rule over us well are under the constraining influence of the great King, whom we believe to be the Son of God, God the Word. [30] It is not known how many were Christians at the time of Celsus (the Jewish population of the empire may have been about 6.6-10% in a population of 60 million to quote one reference). This was the standard pattern of many… Read More God is good, and beautiful, and blessed, and that in the best and most beautiful degree. 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