Does the World Notice When Christians Fight with One Another?
In the earliest centuries of the church, the burgeoning Christian movement had its fair share of critics. And their complaints were wide and varied. Christians worshipped a criminal crucified by the Romans. Christians were a threat to the empire because of their refusal to pay homage to the gods. Christian books were filled with errors and contradictions. Jesus was a magician who learned his dark arts in Egypt. And so on.
Of all the early critics (and there were many), Celsus was undoubtedly the most strident. Writing in the latter half of the second century, Celsus was a Greek Philosopher who penned one of the earliest sustained critiques of Christianity … Continue reading...
“Let Them Not Share in the Affairs of Life”: How Ancient Christians Were Viewed as Dangerous to Society
Celsus “just can’t stand Christians.”
So, writes James O’Donnell (Pagans, 101) as he describes the vicious opposition to Christians in the earliest centuries, particularly from the second-century critic Celsus.
A few weeks ago, I began a short, three-part blog series about what people in the ancient world thought of Christians. In the prior post, we explored how Celsus viewed Christians as ignorant, uneducated simpletons.
In other words, one of the main problems with Christians was intellectual in nature.
But Celsus is by no means finished. In this post, we will see that he thinks that Christians also have a behavioral problem. Their actions are rude, anti-social, and … Continue reading...
Are Christians Ignorant, Uneducated, Simpletons? Sort Of
Some things never change. At least when it comes to what critics think of Christianity.
When we hear modern-day stereotypes of Christianity we might assume that they are, well, modern. These are criticisms, we think, that pertain to the present cultural moment in which we find ourselves.
But, a quick survey of the earliest Christian critics shows that there really is nothing new under the sun. Even when it comes to complaints about Christians.
Take, for example, the prolific anti-Christian philosopher Celsus. Around AD 177, Celsus published his True Doctrine, a scathing, witty, and biting critique of the early Christian movement.
Celsus’ critique is wide-ranging, but there are … Continue reading...