Origen the Sophist: Anti-Sophistic Polemic in Porphyry's "Contra Christianos"
Making use of Beatrice Wyss' "pattern of the disparagement of sophists" for heuristic purposes, this paper argues that the depictions of Christian exegetes and scholars in a fragment of Porphyry's lost work Contra Christianos (fr. 39 Harnack/fr. 6F. Becker) contain literary elem...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| WorldCat: | WorldCat |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
07 May 2019
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| In: |
Vigiliae Christianae
Year: 2019, Volume: 73, Issue: 2, Pages: 159-173 |
| IxTheo Classification: | AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity VA Philosophy |
| Further subjects: | B
Porphyry
B anti-sophistic polemic B Contra Christianos B Origen |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (Publisher) |
| Summary: | Making use of Beatrice Wyss' "pattern of the disparagement of sophists" for heuristic purposes, this paper argues that the depictions of Christian exegetes and scholars in a fragment of Porphyry's lost work Contra Christianos (fr. 39 Harnack/fr. 6F. Becker) contain literary elements of ad hominem attacks which were used in Greek anti-sophistic polemic. Porphyry's allusive language allows for the conclusion that he aimed specifically at casting Origen in the role of a sophist. This hitherto unnoticed component of Porphyry's polemic against the Christians sheds light on how Platonists in the third century viewed Christian intellectuals through a Platonic lens in order to secure their identity against a stereotypical opponent which had ultimately been created by Plato himself. Thus, in Porphyry's view, Christians are, as it were, new foes with old familiar faces. |
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| Physical Description: | 15 |
| ISSN: | 1570-0720 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Vigiliae Christianae
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15700720-12341395 |
