Origen's Contra Celsum and Josephus' Contra Apionem

1990 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis H. Feldman

AbstractIn summary, both Celsus and Origen were confronted with dilemmas. On the one hand, Celsus had to demonstrate that the Christians erred in leaving Judaism and that the Jews provide a credible anti-Christian witness; but, at the same time, he had to denigrate Judaism. In effect, Celsus asked the Christians why they had severed themselves religiously from the Jews if, indeed, they claimed continuity with Judaism, and why they had severed themselves socially from the pagans, inasmuch as they were predominantly of pagan origin. On the other hand, Origen's dilemma was that the only way that he could establish Christianity's legitimacy was to give it a historical basis by demonstrating continuity with Judaism; and yet, the raison d'être of Christianity was, paradoxically, its break with Judaism. Indeed, this is precisely the kind of ambivalence toward Judaism which characterizes so much of early Christian thought. It is not that Celsus is such a lover of the Jews that he apparently abstains from repeating the vilest canards against the Jews, though by his day, in the second century, there were a number of writers, such as Numenius, who genuinely admired the Jews' wisdom. Rather, it would seem, he felt that he would lose in credibility if he exaggerated the case against the Jews. However, when it came to the connection between the Jews and the Christians, whereas Celsus had sought to undermine the national legitimacy of the Christians by insisting that Christianity was a new religion which had severed its links with Judaism, Origen might have gone the way of the Marcionites in severing all links with Judaism and with the Hebrew Scriptures, but he realized that the result of such an approach would have been to fall prey to the charges of Celsus that Christianity was an upstart religion. Consequently, Origen felt that it was particularly important to establish the legitimacy of the Jewish people, with whom the Christians claimed to have a direct link. Christological theology was not of paramount concern to Celsus in his polemic; rather the attack focused upon Jesus the innovator, whose religion lacks respectability because it has no continuity in tradition. Manetho and his successors, as summarized in Josephus' treatise Against Apion, had charged Moses with being a rebel, a perverter of traditional Egyptian religion and customs; similarly, Celsus alleged, Jesus was a rebel, a perverter of traditional Jewish religion and customs. The Christians were, moreover, particularly suspect because they met in secret associations and hence would seem to constitute a danger to the state. By maximizing the common heritage and beliefs of Judaism and Christianity and by minimizing the issues that separated them Origen sought to blunt these attacks. Toward this end Origen found Josephus' treatise Against Apion, the original title of which, apparently, was Concerning the Antiquity of the Jews, useful, particularly in establishing the antiquity and wisdom of the Jews and of Moses (a particularly effective argument inasmuch as the Romans felt so self-conscious about their own recent appearance on the scene of history), in defending the Jews against the charges of unoriginality, of undue credulity, of appealing to uneducated and stupid people, of hatred of mankind, and of atheism, as well as in explaining the apparently degraded state of the Jews. When he departs from Josephus, as he does in dating Moses in the very beginning of civilization, he does so for purposes of argumentation, since Apion, with whose work Celsus was acquainted, imputed such an early date to the Exodus. Again, just as Origen was confronted with a dilemma as to which attitude to adopt toward the Jews, so was he confronted with a similar dilemma in connection with the Egyptians. On the one hand, the Egyptians had a reputation for antiquity and wisdom that was unrivalled in antiquity; on the other hand, the Jews had revolted against the Egyptians; and as the historic heirs of the Jews the Christians were thus associated with rebels. Origen adopts Josephus' argument that the Jews cannot have been a seditious multitude of Egyptians since, if so, they would not have regarded the Egyptian ways so lightly. In a novel argument, Origen then adds that the Jews have an antiquity of their own, as seen by the fact that even non-Jews seek to attain miracles by invoking the names of Abraham and his descendants. Furthermore, since both Celsus and Origen had such a profound respect for Plato, it is important to note that Origen repeats Josephus' view that Plato had been deeply influenced by the Bible; indeed, he adds to Josephus by noting that he was influenced not only by the Torah but also by the Hebrew prophets and not only in the Republic but also in the Symposium, the Phaedrus, the Timaeus, and the Phaedo. Origen goes further than Josephus in answering certain charges made by Celsus that had not been made by the anti-Jewish writers cited by Josephus. In particular, he felt especially sensitive to Celsus' charge that Moses was a charlatan and an impostor, sorcerer, and magician, especially since a similar charge had apparently been made against Jesus. Of course, we must not discount the possibility that rhetoric led both Celsus, in his defense of Egyptian wisdom, and Origen, in his defense of Jewish laws, to champion views that they might not otherwise have held. In both cases they seem to be forced to embrace these views only because of the necessity of assuming that "the more ancient something is, the better." It is surprising to find how sophisticated Origen is. Ultimately, his Hellenic education in general and Platonic training in particular made him a formidable foe of Celsus and a more subtle apologist than Josephus, even if he does depend on much of the latter's work. This is particularly clear when one compares Origen's use of Josephus and more generally his defense of the antiquity and wisdom of ancient Judaism with that of Eusebius in the following century in his apologies directed toward pagans.38

2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (4/2019) ◽  
pp. 193-206
Author(s):  
Darko Simović

The adoption of the Act on Prevention of Domestic Violence was driven by the creation of a more effective legal framework for the protection of victims of domestic violence, and, therefore, also by the alignment of the legal system of the Republic of Serbia with international obligations. The main novelties include multi-sectoral cooperation and primarily preventive nature of the law. However, from its very adoption, it has been pointed to its noticeably repressive character, as well as to provisions with potentially harmful impacts. Hence, this paper represents a contribution to the discussion on the importance and scope of the solutions provided for in the Act on Prevention of Domestic Violence. On the one hand, it points to major novelties intended to contribute to a more effective prevention of domestic violence. On the other hand, it questions the constitutionality and appropriateness of some of the legal solutions, arguing that, in particular respects, the lawmaker had to use a wiser and more subtle approach to conceptualising the provisions of this law.


2013 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-30
Author(s):  
Joel Marcus

Abstract The word כְּנַעֲנִי in Zech 14:21b (“there will no longer be a כְּנַעֲנִי in the house of the Lord of hosts”), has usually been interpreted either in an ethnic (“Canaanite”) or in a mercantile sense (“trader,” “merchant”), and it is possible that in its original context it was a double entendre. In later exegesis, the mercantile interpretation comes to predominate, but the ethnic sense is never completely eclipsed. The New Testament allusions to the Zecharian text reflect both interpretations. On the one hand, the Markan and Johannine Jesus utilizes the mercantile interpretation when he forbids the commerce in the Temple to continue (Mark 11:15-17; John 2:14-17). On the other hand, Mark also seems to reflect the ethnic interpretation, at least indirectly, since he seems to be responding to revolutionaries who used it to justify their ethnic cleansing and military occupation of the Temple. But Mark, for his own part, may have employed the sort of punning exegesis common in ancient Judaism to interpret Zech 14:21b as a prophecy of the eschatological expulsion of these revolutionaries from their Temple headquarters: on that day, there will no longer be קַנְאָנִין (“Zealots”) in the house of the Lord of Hosts.


Itinerario ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 25 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 143-153
Author(s):  
Robert Ross

What is, and was, South Africa? This is clearly not a question which has a single answer, nor has it ever had one. On the one hand, there is a constitutional answer. In these terms, South Africa did not exist before the creation of the Union in 1910 and since then has been the state created then, transformed into the Republic of South Africa in 1961 and transformed once again with the ending of white minority rule in 1994. On the other hand, there are innumerable answers, effectively those to be found in the minds of all South Africans, and indeed all those foreigners who have an opinion about the country. Nevertheless, these opinions are not random. Clearly, there are regularities to be found within them, such that it is possible, in principle, to describe at the very least the range of answers to this question which were held within particular groups of the population, either within the country or outside it, and also to use specific sources, emanating from a single person, or group of individuals, as exemplary of the visions held by a far wider group.


ΠΗΓΗ/FONS ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 87
Author(s):  
Sun Yu-Jung

Abstract: In this paper, I argue that 1) the ostensible inconsistency between the judgments of value on different kinds of lying, like poetry, fabricated story, myth and noble lies, is not a veritable one, and 2) Plato does not hold a utilitarian position on the question of lying, or making up something false to be more precise, and lies do not turn into noble lies once they are told to be in the service of some superior purpose. Plato does state in Book II of the Republic that the veritable lie (ἀληθῶς ψεῦδος) is what all gods and all man hate (382a), and poets must be punished for deceiving people by linking the Supreme Being to its contrary. But Plato also discusses the useful lie, especially the one lie that is necessary for the unity and stability of the polis: the Noble Lie. Neither useful lies nor noble lies can be acceptable just because we can make a use out of it, and it does not hold either that the greater the use we can make out of a lie, the nobler a lie is. A true lie (ἀληθῶς ψεῦδος) for Plato is the kind of lie leading people to believe that the hierarchy of the forms can be reordered in any way, and we can make random associations between the forms, like forming the relation between gods and the action of war. On the other hand, useful lies and the noble lies are in fact a duplicate of the order of the forms. This order, which articulates forms, is what makes thinking of truth possible, and we can later find this idea of the order of the forms which allows us to think truth and falsity in both the Theaetetus and the Sophist.Keywords: Lie, imitation, dialectic, falsehood


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wachid Eko Purwanto

Butir-Butir Budaya Jawa (Grains of Javanese Culture) is a title of a book written by Soeharto, the second president of the Republic of Indonesia. This book contains the local wisdom in the form of Javanese maxims. Soeharto compiled Butir-Butir Budaya Jawa as a guidance of life. The book is structured into two main chapters, namely pituduh (moral guidance) and wewaler (prohibitions).This paper intends to identify and describe the prohibitions contained in one of the chapters of Butir-butir Budaya Jawa, namely chapter Wewaler. Wewaler take the ideal concept of Javanese culture containing prohibitions that should not be done by Javanese. In Wewaler there are six themes; (1) belief in the One Supreme God, (2) spirituality, (3) humanity, (4) nationhood, (5) family life, and (6) on material goods.Based on to whom the prohibitions are intended, there are two Soeharto’s prohibitions in Wewaler, 1) prohibitions of human and 2) prohibitions of other creatures. Based on selfhood, there are two prohibitions against human; a) prohibitions of self and b) prohibitions of other people. Based on kinship, there are six prohibitions of other people, (1) prohibitions of ancestors, (2) prohibitions of parents, (3) prohibitions of parents in law, (4) prohibitions of husband/wife, (5) prohibitions of child and (6) prohibitions of liyan (strangers). Based on the characters, there are four prohibitions of Liyan; (a) prohibitions of ordinary people, (b) prohibitions of holy man, (c) prohibitions of superior man, and (d) prohibitions of evil man. In the other hand, based on its kind, there are two prohibitions of other creatures; a) spiritual beings and b) animals.


2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-82
Author(s):  
Neliana Rodean

Abstract In Romania, a semi-presidential system characterized by an exaltation of the powers of the President of the Republic, there would be critical observations to be reported in relation to this institution. More precisely, it refers to the constitutional provisions which weaken the President among the political institutions and could also lead to different interpretations. First of all, the paper examines the President as popularly elected body but that does not reflect fully the will of the nation. Secondly, its oath violated the freedom of religion and if the wording will not be changed, will continue to constitute a discrimination against other non Orthodox President that could be elected. Moreover, the Romanian legal system is characterized by an independence of the President in its relationship with the Parliament but on the one hand, that does not mean that the President is more powerful in the event of dissolution of the Parliament and the other hand, the Parliament is completely independent in determining its competences in relations with the office of the Presidency.


2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-97
Author(s):  
Dieu-Merci Ngusu Masuta

This article provides a study of the modalities and legal effects of the termination of the functions of members of the Congolese Constitutional Court. It offers a detailed analysis based mainly on the relevant provisions of Ordinance No. 16/070 of August 22, 2016 on the special status of members of the Constitutional Court. This Ordinance was adopted in application of the Congolese Constitution of February 18, 2006 in conjunction with organic-law No. 13/026 of October 15, 2013 on the organization and functioning of the Constitutional Court. Distinguishing on the one hand the normal cause of cessation of functions - the expiry of the mandate - and on the other hand the so-called exceptional causes - the resignation, dismissal and death of a member -, the study shows that the enumeration thus retained from the ordinance is incomplete with regard to the above-mentioned organic law. Thus, the list must be supplemented with the "nullity of the appointment" of a member in accordance with articles 2 and 3 of that organic law. The law is silent, however, on the issue of the voluntary retirement of members, although the implementation of this right inevitably has an impact on the end of their functions. The study therefore continues by an examination of both the general and the specific legal effects of these different modalities of ending the functions of a member of the Constitutional Court. Finally, in order to support and complete this essentially theoretical analysis, the article also looks at the question that remains most topical in Congolese constitutional law, namely the legal nature of the 'power' of the President of the Republic to appoint members of the Constitutional Court to other Courts or functions during their term of office. It concludes that such a power is not justified in the current framework of Congolese constitutional law. Indeed, it is inconceivable that such appointments should be imposed on the Constitutional Court members, their acceptance being the only exception to the principle of irremovability that governs them. Such a case should be considered one of voluntary resignation and a subsitute member should therefore only be appointed after this situation has been ascertained and established by the Constitutional Court.


Author(s):  
Muratov Abdushukur

Over the centuries, the territory of what is now Uzbekistan has been one of the well-developed scientific, educational and spiritual centers of the world. Its history and thousands of manuscripts in the funds of the country confirm that it has produced many scholars on the one hand, and on the other hand, these scholars have paid special attention to science. A large part of manuscripts in the funds of the country is devoted to Islamic sciences such as Tafsir, Hadith, Fiqh, Kalam, Balagha, Logic and Arabic linguistics. One of these manuscripts is Abu Khafs Nasafi’s (467-537/1074-1142) work “Al-Taysir fi `Ilm al-Tafsir”. The manuscript is devoted to the Science of Tafsir and contains of five volumes. Seven manuscript copies of this work are stored in the Fund of the Institute of Oriental Studies named after Abu Rayhan Biruni under the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan. A scientific analysis of these sources confirms that these copies were not fully saved. Manuscript copies of the work “al-Taysir fi `Ilm al-Taysir” are stored not only in our country, but in other countries too. Particularly, there are 77 copies of this work in the libraries of Turkey. These manuscripts are well preserved than other copies of this work. The article gives information about manuscript copies of the work “al-Taysir fi `Ilm al-Taysir” in the Sulaymaniyah library of Turkey. KEY WORDS: Abu Khafs `Umar Nasafi, Tafsir, al-Taysir fi `Ilm al-Tafsir, verse, faith, hadith, scholar of his time, method.


Rusin ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 13-33
Author(s):  
V.V. Vasilik ◽  

The article presents the first Russian commented translation of St. Niceta of Remesiana’s treatise “On the Benefirt of Psalmody”. St. Nicetas of Remesiana (350–420) was the Apostle of Dacians, Getes, Goths, and, possibly, Early Slavs. His treatese justifies the practice of psalmody in the Early Church and describes an Early Christian vigil in the Balkan-Carpathian region. The translation is preceded by a research on St. Nicetas of Remesiana’s life and oeuvre as well as the particularities of the treatese under study, its historical and liturgical context. According to the treatese, there was an opposition to the practice of All-Night Vigils in the Balkans, while the arguments for the defense of vigils were largely drawn from the writings of Basil of Caesarea. The treatese contains indications of the antiphonic method of Church Chant singing, which spread from Phenicia and Syria throughout the Christian world in the 4th century. The order of the Matins reconstructed in the treatese is similar to the Gallican rite on the one hand (Ode to Jeremiah) and, on the other hand, to the Jerusalem liturgical tradition (the composition and sequence of the other Odes mentioned in the treatese), which can be connected with phenomenon of pilgrimage. In general, the treatese is an important source on the church life of the Balkan-Carpathian region.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-169
Author(s):  
Anne Siebels Peterson ◽  
Brandon Peterson

In the fifteenth chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul makes a number of philosophically mysterious claims about the relationship between the ‘earthly’ body and the resurrected or ‘spiritual’ body. To what extent do these claims reflect themes present in Aristotle’s own views on the relationship between matter and organism? We will argue that Aristotle’s understanding of the relationship between matter and organism already reflects a commitment to the two central claims that Paul takes to be definitive of the relationship between earthly and spiritual body. On the one hand, Paul insists that the earthly body is not itself the resurrected or spiritual body, but only a seed that is sown for the latter. Further separating the earthly from the spiritual body, he compares their distinction to the distinction between the bodies of different animals. On the other hand, the chapter ends with language of continuity between the earthly and the spiritual body. Precisely this seeming conflict is present in Aristotle’s analysis of animal generation. Whereas many interpretations of Aristotle’s analysis privilege one side of the conflict over the other, I will argue that both must be equally privileged, yielding a parallel between the cases of animal generation in Aristotle and bodily resurrection in early Christianity.


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