The Alethes Logos of Celsus and the Historicity of Christ

Abstract

With the advent of the so-called New Atheism, attacks of all kinds on the truth-claims of Christianity have increased both in number and agitation, though frequently unfettered by evidence. I intend to address what would be the most damning claim of all, if it were true, namely that Jesus of Nazareth never existed and was convenient fiction contrived in second-century Gospels, characterized by Richard Carrier as mythic biography.1 These claims had been advanced by Bruno Bauer and Arthur Drews in the late nineteenth century, and roundly dismissed.2 The last gasp came in the 1970s from Ph.D. in German literature; swiftly, and to my mind convincingly, rebutted by R. T. France.3 The position was eulogized in 1977 by historian Michael Grant, who wrote: Modem critical methods fail to support the Christ-myth theory. It has again and again been answered and annihilated by first-rank scholars, apparently laying the matter to rest.4 However, current popular authors have unearthed the argument again,5 and it is now being advanced aggressively by those possessing scholarly credentials.6 Claims of mythical Christ immediately awaken range of quite reasonable questions. How does one account for the existence of the church in the first century?7 If Christ never existed, why were the leaders of the church, who would themselves have known the veracity of Christian truth-claims, willing to die for their belief in resurrected Christ?8 Why were the worshippers so insistent in their belief that Christ was divine and had physically appeared after his death?9 Many of these mythicist claims have been specifically addressed in recent works focusing on the evidence in the New Testament, so I should like to approach the issue from different angle.10 The claims of the mythicists are significantly deflated by works of early anti-Christian writers, particularly the hostile testimony to Christ's existence in the second-century author Celsus.CelsusBefore we examine Celsus' writings, let us address possible objection, namely that this source is dated. While it is common today to assume that the ancients were terribly unenlightened and unsophisticated, it is Celsus' very antiquity that gives the evidence such weight. He likely wrote in the 170s, when any second-century conspiracy would have been easily identified and deflated.11 These points would be made equally well by evidence from such similar authors as Porphyry of Tyre, one of the greatest pagan intellectuals of the late third century, Sossianus Hierocles, the governor of Bithynia, and the emperor Julian, philosopher in his own right who had the resources of the empire to hand.12 In short, they were all well-educated and wellplaced to address the matter of Christ's non-existence, that is, if it was viable argument to take up. However, given Celsus' chronological proximity to the supposed second-century conspiracy, I shall focus upon him.One does not have to share Celsus' Christology to think that his statements are worthy of serious engagement. We know little about his life, but the positive assessment of his abilities by scholars should give pause to those who would dismiss his evidence. Stephen Benko has described him as a man who relied not on rumors and hearsay evidence but on personal observation and careful study.13 Celsus attributed the falsehood of Christianity to the errors of origin, content, and transmission of the Christian scriptures.14 Celsus was broadly monotheistic, but believed different cultures manifested different expressions of divinity.15 Celsus' general approach consisted of his own appeal to return to traditional religion, as well as his taking on the persona of Jew chastising Christians for deviating from Judaism. His work Alethes Logos, or the True Word, described as a noble attempt to defend the traditional values of Rome,16 is preserved in large part in Origen of Alexandrias response c. 245 CE, Contra Celsum.17 Celsus' anti-Christian claims that relate to Christs historical existence break down into three areas which I will examine in turn: disreputable birth, low and ordinary life, and pointless death. …