Language:
English
Year of publication:
1990
Titel der Quelle:
Vigiliae Christianae
Angaben zur Quelle:
44,2 (1990) 105-135
Keywords:
Origen.
;
Josephus, Flavius.
Abstract:
The identity of Celsus is unknown. His Greek anti-Christian polemical work "The True Doctrine", written during the second half of the 2nd century CE, is lost except for the extensive quotations in Origen's rejoinder, "Contra Celsus", dating from the middle of the 3rd century. Both Celsus and Origen were confronted with dilemmas. Since they had to assume that "the more ancient something is, the better it is", Celsus had to demonstrate that the Christians erred in leaving Judaism but at the same time he had to denigrate Judaism, while Origen had to establish Christianity's legitimacy by demonstrating continuity with Judaism whereas Christianity's raison d'etre was its break with Judaism. Discusses the importance of the Jewish connection for both writers, and Origen's dependence on arguments expressed by Josephus in his polemical work directed against the anti-Jewish Apion. Mentions accusations against the Jews made by other writers, such as Manetho and Lysimachus, quoted in Josephus' "Contra Apionem".
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
Permalink