Unlike prior opponents of Christianity, Celsus took the time to understand Christian belief thoroughly, and his arguments against Christian belief were more carefully considered. Unfortunately, we don't have the complete text of his work, but it's pretty easy to see exactly where Celsus was coming from by Origen's response. As you look at Origen's reply to Celsus, note the specific objections to Christianity Celsus raises. Which of these objections seems to you hardest to answer?
Celsus is looking at Christianity from a Jewish perspective and it's pretty clear that he does not have a high approval rating on Christianity. He goes about the "Address of the Jew" in part 1 questioning everything that the Lord Jesus claims about Himself, then in part 2 admonishing those who have converted from Judaism to Christianity.
ReplyDeleteA good summary quote is this:
"If the Son is mightier than God, and the Son of man is Lord over Him, who else than the Son can be Lord over that God who is the ruler over all things? How comes it, that while so many go about the well, no one goes down into it? Why art thou afraid and shrink with fear when thou hast gone so far on the way? Answer: Thou art mistaken, for I lack neither courage nor weapons."
Kent Johnsen
To me Celsus reads as an attack more than a rebuttal because he brings in arguments that do not seem to have any references. - Example
ReplyDelete"For he [Celsus] represents the Jew disputing with Jesus, and confuting Him, as he thinks, on many points; and in the first place, he accuses Him of having
invented his birth from a virgin, and upbraids Him with being born in a certain Jewish village, of a poor woman of the country, who gained her subsistence by spinning, and who was turned out of doors by her husband, a carpenter by trade, because she was convicted of adultery; that after being driven away by her husband, and wandering about for a time, she disgracefully gave birth to Jesus, an illegitimate child, who having hired himself out as a servant in Egypt on account of his poverty, and having there acquired some miraculous powers, on which the Egyptians greatly pride themselves, returned to his own country, highly elated on account of them, and by means of these proclaimed himself a God."
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/celsus.html
Is there a source document for this, perhaps lost to antiquity, or was it a fabrication from thin air. In making arguments such as this it lowers the exchange from a debate to a mudslinging contest. I think there are other avenues for rebuttal without making attacks such as this.
Although Celsus uses the Old Testament as part of his rebuttal I believe he was a pagan philosopher who used all sources at his disposal to build his case against Christianity. I think Jews would have used other references to counter the Christian claims.
Jerry Taylor
Celsus's writing comes across as an attack towards Christians without any real reasoning behind it. The reason I say this is because his writing has a bunch of holes in his logic. A good example of this would be, ""For he [Celsus] represents the Jew disputing with Jesus, and confuting Him, as he thinks, on many points; and in the first place, he accuses Him of having
ReplyDeleteinvented his birth from a virgin, and upbraids Him with being born in a certain Jewish village, of a poor woman of the country, who gained her subsistence by spinning, and who was turned out of doors by her husband, a carpenter by trade, because she was convicted of adultery".
This clearly shows that he is only speaking from the Jewish perspective and not taking all perspectives into account. This seems hard to answer since it isn't backed by anything. He doesn't even back this argument using the Bible/written account of Jesus conception and birth. These factors alone confirm the fact he was a pagan who wouldn't listen to any other religion.
Source for quote: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/celsus.html
In Book IV, Chapter XIV of Origen’s Against Celsus, he writes that Celsus said that God is, essentially, perfect. But Jesus was a man, and by becoming man, rather than being a “God,” he is making a negative change. “From good to evil, from virtue to vice,” etc. That’s something I’ve always wondered about. People say that as a man, Jesus suffered in all the ways we do today. How did He remain perfect? I know he was still the Son of God, still perfect, all that. But how did He become a human, with a human mind and heart, and never commit a sin? How did He never have a jealous/lustful/sinful thought? I don’t know how one would defend that – that Jesus was human, but still remained God, still remained perfect. I don’t understand how that works. Maybe no one truly does, though.
ReplyDelete