author
active 180 Celsus (Platonic philosopher)
Known mainly through the arguments he inspired, this 2nd-century Platonist was one of the earliest and sharpest pagan critics of Christianity. His lost book survives in fragments quoted by Origen, giving him a rare afterlife through an opponent’s reply.
1 Audiobook
Arguments of Celsus, Porphyry, and the Emperor Julian, Against the Christians Also Extracts from Diodorus Siculus, Josephus, and Tacitus, Relating to the Jews, Together with an Appendix
by active 180 Celsus (Platonic philosopher), Siculus Diodorus, Flavius Josephus, Emperor of Rome Julian, Porphyry, Cornelius Tacitus
About the author
A Greek philosopher active in the later 2nd century CE, Celsus is usually described as a Platonist and is best known for writing The True Word (also translated as The True Doctrine or True Discourse). The original work has not survived on its own, so modern readers know it chiefly through Contra Celsum, the long rebuttal written by the Christian theologian Origen in the 3rd century.
That unusual survival gives Celsus a distinctive place in intellectual history. Rather than being remembered through a complete text of his own, he is known through the debate he provoked. Even so, he emerges as a serious, educated critic who defended traditional religion and challenged Christian claims with philosophical arguments.
Because so little can be confirmed about his personal life, the focus stays on his ideas and influence. For readers interested in the religious and philosophical clashes of the Roman Empire, Celsus offers a vivid glimpse of how Christianity looked to an intelligent non-Christian observer in the ancient world.