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Class
Prep
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"Ain't
Misbehavin'": Pagan Critiques of Christianity & the
Christian Defense
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The readings for today are excerpts from a Greco-Roman philosopher
by the name of Celsus, a philosopher of the second century
CE and his Christian respondent, Orien, who lived in the
early 200s CE. Recall that, during this period,
Christianity was periodically under assault from the Roman
authorities, and you will understand why a philosophical
attack was both desireable and popular. Romans
at all levels derided the Christians, as the graffito to
the right suggests. This picture, scratched onto
a wall in Rome, depicts a man raising his hand to a crucified
jackass, and bears the inscription, "Alexamenos worships
god." Celsus' work, a more refined expression
but of similar sentiment, was called On the True Doctrine
(excerpts online, see link below).
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- As you can imagine, Celsus' works were burned by the Christians
as they came to power in the fourth century, but Celsus'
arguments are nevertheless preserved for us because an early
church father, Origen, rebutted them. In Origen's
rebuttal, Celsus' arguments are quoted at such length that
it is possible to reconstruct a significant percentage of
Celsus' original work. Although later condemned for some
of his own teachings, Origen is now recognized as one of
the most prolific church fathers whose writings merging
Neo-Platonic philosophy and Christian teachings were misunderstood
in the context of later doctrinal controversies. It
is no surprise that a thinker of Origen's stature was called
upon to rebut the arguments of Celsus, which continued to
influence the pagan-Christian debate in Origen's day. It
is a mark of his credibility as a scholar that he presented
Celsus' arguments so faithfully; many other church fathers
filled their rebuttals with so much invective that it's
much harder to reconstruct what the critic originally said.
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- Read Celsus' attack first today, and take note of all
his major arguments. Make an actual list of them in the
margins of the printout. Highlight any criticisms that don't
make sense to you so that we can discuss them in class.
The Tripolitis reading sets up the historical context for
early Christianity and for the Roman attack. Note that she
talks about Celsus on pp. 99-101; this should help you make
sense of Celsus' text itself.
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- Then read Origen's rebuttals. Again, take note of his
major points, try to understand how (or whether!) they really
rebut Celsus, and highlight any rebuttals that don't make
sense to you. Bring the marked printout to class.
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- Assigned Readings
- Primary: Celsus, excerpts from On
the True Doctrine (left column of the page);
Origin, Against Celsus
(right column of the page); there is an online version of
the entire work, Against Celsus, if you'd like to
read more from it:
- Secondary: Tripolitis, pp. 98-117; online class
prep
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- Further Reading
Brown, Peter. The World of Late Antiquity,
AD 150-750. London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich,
1971.
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- Dodds, E. R.. Pagan and Christian in an
Age of Anxiety: Some Aspects of Religious Experience from
Marcus Aurelius to Constantine, Wiles Lectures 1963. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1965.
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Fox, Robin Lane. Pagans and Christians. New
York : Knopf, 1986.
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Grant, Robert M. Gods and the One God. Philadelphia:
Westminster, 1986.
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Hartog, François. The Mirror of Herodotus:
The Representation of the Other in the Writing of History,
trans. Janet Lloyd, New Historicism 5. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1988.
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Macmullen, Ramsay. Christianizing the Roman
Empire, A.D. 100-400. New Haven, Connecticut:
Yale University Press, 1984.
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--------. Paganism in the Roman Empire. New
Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1981.
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Smith, John Holland. The Death of Classical
Paganism. New York: Scribner, 1976.
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- Links
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- Sources
- Photograph:
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