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Abstract
Origen's Contra Celsum has always been considered an important part of his literary corpus. Admired as the greatest of the early Christian apologies, the Contra Celsum is an invaluable resource for reconstructing the thought of Celsus and the situation of the Church in the third century of our era. This dissertation argues that the work also provides invaluable insights into the thought of Origen, and in particular into his biblical theology.
The outstanding reason for the value of the information contained in the Contra Celsum is the very different situation it addresses. Origen is here introducing his Scriptures to an audience either unfamiliar with them or already prejudiced against them. Though the Contra Celsum proceeds differently for that reason, its presentation of the Bible complements and elucidates what Origen has written elsewhere.
The Bible is presented as a book at once self-evident and profound. The new reader is pointed to Scripture's prophetic and historical testimony to Jesus as the Christ and to Scripture's clear moral instruction. The ability of these two words of Scripture to persuade and convert has already been demonstrated in the life of the Church. Although Origen makes it clear throughout that Scripture also possesses many deeper truths, he reserves these for the mature interpreter and outlines both the qualifications of the advanced reader and the rationale for his reservation. This three-fold division of Scripture's message suggests new ways of understanding Origen's hermeneutical model.
Origen is forced to address many concepts here that continue to hold the interest of today's theological community. The insight provided by the Contra Celsum into Origen's understanding of myth, meaning, history, and truth is discussed.
In the Contra Celsum the outline emerges of a program of Christian biblical initiation, a program of Scriptural catechesis. The reader begins with Scripture's clear and obvious teachings and slowly advances toward the goal of Christian exegesis: the possession of the "mind of Christ".
A "Descriptive Outline of the Contra Celsum" is appended to the dissertation.
