Die Verfassung der Juden: Das biblische Judentum als politisches Modell in Origenes Contra Celsum

Abstract

In the last two decades the relationship of Origen to Judaism was subject to a new critical revision which tended to stress his estrangement rather than his contacts with it. Contra Celsum witnesses indeed the importance of Judaism in the eyes both of the pagan and the Christian author, though for different reasons. Against Celsus' rejection of Moses and Judaism, Origen provides an organic defense both of the Legislator of the Jewish people and of the Jewish constitution stemming from him. This emphasizes the different aspects of the political, social and religious life of the Jews during biblical times. Despite his indebtment to the Judeo-Hellenistic apologetics, especially to Flavius Josephus and Philo, Origen is able to provide a new version of the traditional picture of a philosophical people. On the other hand, the vindication of the superiority of the Jewish polity unavoidably suggests the problem of a new Christian polity, a task Eusebius would deal with, though by departing from the Origenian model of a clear distinction between the community of the church and the state.