Philosophy of Religion

Contra Celsum

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Origen

c. 248

Contra Celsum is the longest and most philosophically sophisticated early Christian apologetic work, written in Alexandria around 248 CE. It is a sustained response to The True Word (Alethes Logos), a pagan critique of Christianity written by the philosopher Celsus around 178 CE. Working through Celsus's objections point by point — attacking the miraculous, the particularity of the Incarnation, the social composition of the early church, and the alleged irrationality of faith — Origen deploys the full resources of Greek philosophy, Jewish scriptural exegesis, and Christian theology to mount a defence. The result is not merely polemic but a genuine philosophical encounter: Origen takes Celsus's Platonic commitments seriously and argues that Christianity, properly understood, fulfils rather than contradicts the deepest aspirations of Greek philosophy.