T. & T. CLARK, 38, GEORGE STREET.
MDCCCLXXII.
Books VII. and VIII. have been translated by the late W. H. Cairns, M.A., Rector of the Dumfries Academy, and the rest by Professor Crombie.
ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS.
VOLUME I.
BOOK I., 393-478
Preface.—Origen undertakes this treatise at the desire of Ambrose, but thinks it unnecessary, as the facts and doctrines of Christianity form its best defence—work begun on one plan and carried on on another.
First objection of Celsus is, that Christians enter into secret associations, some of which are illegal,—his object being to discredit the “love-feasts” of the Christians: Answer of Origen—chap. i. Second objection of Celsus, that Judaism, on which Christianity depends, had a barbarous origin: Answer—chap. ii. Celsus objects that Christians practise their doctrines in secret to avoid the penalty of death: Answer—chap. iii. Morality of Christianity neither venerable nor new: Answer—chap. iv. Celsus approves of the views of Christians respecting idolatry, but asserts that these views are prior to Christianity: Answer—chap. v. Asserts that the miracles of Christianity were performed by means of the invocation of demons: Answer—chap. vi. That Christianity is a secret system of belief: Answer—chap. vii. Maintains that a man should die for his belief; inconsistency of this with his profession as an Epicurean—chap. viii. Maintains that reason ought to be the guide of men in adopting opinions, and charges Christians with inculcating a blind belief: Answer—chaps. ix.-xi. Boast of Celsus, that he is acquainted with all the opinions of the Christians, shown to be unfounded—chap. xii. Misrepresentation by Celsus of the statement in 1 Cor. iii. 18, 19: Correction and explanation—chap. xiii. Inconsistency of Celsus in accepting the accounts of Greeks and barbarians as to their antiquity, while rejecting the histories of the Jews—chaps. xiv.-xvi. Celsus objects to giving an allegorical signification to the Jewish history; inconsistency of this—chap. xvii. Challenges a comparison between the writings of Linus, Musæus, etc., and the laws of Moses: Answer—chap. xviii. Celsus holds that the world was uncreated, and yet is led to admit that it is comparatively modern—chaps. xix., xx. Celsus asserts that Moses borrowed his doctrines from wise nations and eloquent men, and thus obtained the reputation of divinity: Answer—chap. xxi. Circumcision, according to Celsus, first practised by the Egyptians: Answer—chap. xxii. The followers of Moses, shepherds and herdsmen, were led to believe in the unity of God through delusion and vulgar conceit: Answer—chap. xxiii. Various names given to the one God by the followers of Moses, all evincing their ignorance of His nature: Discussion regarding the significance of the divine names in various languages—chaps. xxiv., xxv. Celsus charges the Jews with worshipping angels and practising sorcery: Answer—chaps. xxvi., xxvii. Inconsistency of Celsus in introducing a Jew, as an opponent of Jesus, who does not maintain the character of a Jew throughout the discussion: This Jew represented as accusing Jesus of having “invented his birth from a virgin,” and upbraiding Him with “being born in a certain Jewish village of a poor woman of the country who gained her subsistence by spinning, and who was turned out of doors by her husband, a carpenter by trade, because she was convicted of adultery; and after being driven away by her husband and wandering about for a time, she disgracefully gave birth to Jesus, an illegitimate child, who, having hired himself out as a servant in Egypt on account of his poverty, and having there acquired some miraculous powers, on which the Egyptians greatly pride themselves, returned to his own country, highly elated on account of them, and by help of them proclaimed himself a god”—chap. xxviii. Preliminary remarks to a full answer to these charges—chaps. xxix.-xxxii. Proof that the birth of Christ from a virgin was predicted by the prophets—chaps. xxxiii.-xxxv. Proof that prophets existed among the Jews—chap. xxxvi. Possibility of the miraculous birth of Christ—chap. xxxvii. Answer to the assertion that Jesus wrought His miracles by magic, and not by divine power—chap. xxxviii. Scoffs of Celsus regarding the mother of Jesus not deserving of answer—chap. xxxix. Celsus charges the narrative in Matthew regarding the dove which alighted upon the Saviour at His baptism with being fictitious; shows great want of method and order in the manner in which he brings his charges—chap. xl. Answer—chaps. xli.-xlviii. Celsus sets aside the fact that the coming of Jesus was predicted by the Jewish prophets, perhaps because he was not acquainted with the prophecies relating to Christ: Inconsistency of representing the Jew as saying, “My prophet once declared in Jerusalem that the Son of God will come as the judge of the righteous and the punisher of the wicked”—chaps. xlix., l. Detailed evidence from prophecy respecting the birth of Christ—chaps. li.-liii. Answer to objection of Celsus regarding the sufferings of Christ—chaps. liv.-lvi. Celsus asserts that every man, born according to the decree of divine Providence, is a son of God: Answer—chap. lvii. The Jew of Celsus goes on to misrepresent the Gospel account of the visit of the Magi, and of the slaughter of the innocents by Herod: Answer—chaps. lviii.-lxi. Calumnies of Celsus regarding the number and character and conduct of the disciples of Jesus: Answer—chaps. lxii.-lxv. The absurdity of the story of our Lord’s removal when an infant, is, according to Celsus, a proof that He was not divine: Answer—chap. lxvi. Celsus denies that the works of Jesus were at all remarkable as compared with those attributed to Perseus and Amphion, and other mythological personages, but admits afterwards that some of them were remarkable,—such as His cures, and His resurrection, and the feeding of the multitude,—although he immediately afterwards compares them to the tricks of jugglers, and denies that they can furnish any proof of His being “Son of God:” Answer—chaps. lxvii., lxviii. Objection of Celsus that the body of Jesus could not have been that of a god, nor could be nourished with such food as Jesus partook of: Answer—chaps. lxix., lxx. Declares that opinions of Jesus were those of a wicked and God-hated sorcerer: Answer—chap. lxxi.
VOLUME II.
[BOOK II.], [1] -84