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Magical Power of Names in Origen’s Polemic against Celsus

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Šedina M.

Listy filologické (Folia philologica)

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2013

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vol. 136

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issue 1-2

7-25

EN

One of the important topics of Origen’s treatise Against Celsus is a defence of Christians from accusations of magical practices, seen primarily in their incantation of Christ’s name. In his appraisal, Celsus draws on the Platonic principles of the “care for the soul”, according to which every contact with the world of divine is carried out on the basis of philosophical knowledge, accomplished by the assimilation of the soul to the image of god. For Celsus, there is no other way of getting in connection with the divine, and thus the Christian faith in Jesus’ miracles is only a product of religious charlatans who implant false notions of divine powers into the human soul. The ignorance of the soul is thereby only reinforced, and it cannot reach any connection with divinity whatsoever. The similarity principle brings the Platonic “incantation of the soul” closer to the model of imitative magic that achieves its effect merely by virtue of an idea. Origen, on the contrary, defends the real impact of uttering of Jesus’ name, which, according to him, has its power regardless of a degree of our theological knowledge. In this regard, Origen draws attention to the Egyptian magicians who include biblical names into their magical formulas even though they do not realise whom they address. In his account, then, it is rather the principles of contact magic that come into play, operating with corporeal parts of things or bodies or with their traces and fragments of events that are somehow connected to certain names.

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Případ Panthéra. Órigenova obrana panenského početí Marie ve spisu Proti Kelsovi

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Šedina M.

Listy filologické (Folia philologica)

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2015

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vol. 138

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issue 1-2

7-40

EN

One of the ways how pagan philosopher Celsus tries to call into question basic motifs of Christian piety, is his denial of Christ’s divine origin. Against the claims of the Gospels that Christ was borne of a virgin and conceived through Holy Spirit, Celsus mentions a rather cheap anecdote about a simple countrywoman who ran wild with a Roman soldier called Panthera behind her husband’s back. Origen, whose treatise Contra Celsum was dedicated to the defence of Christian tradition, used various arguments to refute Celsus’ construct of adulterous Mary but many of these were connected to charge itself only loosely, if at all: Origen points out examples of allegedly divine origin of illustrious men in pagan literature, and he also mentions opinions of some ancient zoologists that some animals can conceive without having sexual intercourse. According to Origen, important proofs of the veracity of Christian concept are the Old Testament prophecies about the coming of Christ. Origen’s own attitude to the Celsus’ charge can only be gleaned from his remarks that it is, in fact, the slander of Celsus itself – calling attention to the fact that Jesus was not born of an ordinary marriage – that testifies to His Divine origin. This formulation brings us to the question whether Origen eventually does not see in Celsus’ image of adulterous Mary sort of a scandalous hint to the deeper meaning of Jesus’ birth, as it was the case with the Christian image of virginal conception seen through the eyes of pagan and Jewish world.

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Orygenes fizjonomistą? Kilka uwag na temat "Przeciw Celsusowi" I 33

81%

Kokoszko M.

Vox Patrum

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2001

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vol. 40

173-194

EN

Origen is one of the most eminent Christian intellectuals of all times. Bom between 185 and 186 AD, died between 254 and 255 AD. He lived trough a period of alternate persecution and relative religious freedom to the Christians. A well-educated teacher and an exegete of the Holy Scriptures, he finally became one of the most influential figures in the Church.

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2 Listy filologické (Folia philologica)

1 Vox Patrum

1 2015

1 2013

1 2001

2 Šedina M.

1 Kokoszko M.

Magical Power of Names in Origen’s Polemic against Celsus

Případ Panthéra. Órigenova obrana panenského početí Marie ve spisu Proti Kelsovi

Orygenes fizjonomistą? Kilka uwag na temat "Przeciw Celsusowi" I 33