Origen's Apologetic Against Celsus
Similar to Justin’s appeal to Scripture as history, Origen in his apologetic Against Celsus uses history in Scripture to respond to Celsus’ criticisms of Christianity. Origen uses the biblical history recorded in the Old Testament of the Jewish people to reply to Celsus, who was arguing that the way to know God is through the ascent of the mind. Wilken states that Origen responds by arguing that knowing God is grounded in the historical descent of God to humanity as a historical person. Origen points out that Christ is the divine Logos who was at the beginning with God, linking the Old and New Testaments to Christ. In both Justin and Origen’s approaches towards Scripture, philosophical ideas are included in their discussions on God. This
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He argues that the Gospel is not to be subjected to external criteria and that Scripture is a proof in itself, which is of a Spirit and of a power that surpasses Greek philosophical dialect arguments. Wilkens states that this locates Christianity in divine revelation, instead of human wisdom. However, Origen does not advocate for the rejection of all philosophical inquiry, historical or experiential questioning. The aspect of not subjecting the Bible to external criteria is important for theological method, because it is an early criticism of subjecting the Bible to philosophical critique that stands over the biblical text. In this approach, can also be seen a parallel of criticizing the same type of subjection of the biblical text to modern rational Enlightenment criticism. Contemporary theological method faces similar challenges in determining how to dialogue with philosophy and historical criticism. Origen also depicted the Gospel as being narrative. This is an important aspect of postmodern theology today and in some other theological approaches, such as Pentecostalism. Narrative for Origen did not mean simply a plain account of the story of Christ, instead it impacts the hearer in a profound way. This concept of being affected by the Gospel as more than story is also found later in Gadamer’s hermeneutics, which has greatly
He argues that the Gospel is not to be subjected to external criteria and that Scripture is a proof in itself, which is of a Spirit and of a power that surpasses Greek philosophical dialect arguments. Wilkens states that this locates Christianity in divine revelation, instead of human wisdom. However, Origen does not advocate for the rejection of all philosophical inquiry, historical or experiential questioning. The aspect of not subjecting the Bible to external criteria is important for theological method, because it is an early criticism of subjecting the Bible to philosophical critique that stands over the biblical text. In this approach, can also be seen a parallel of criticizing the same type of subjection of the biblical text to modern rational Enlightenment criticism. Contemporary theological method faces similar challenges in determining how to dialogue with philosophy and historical criticism. Origen also depicted the Gospel as being narrative. This is an important aspect of postmodern theology today and in some other theological approaches, such as Pentecostalism. Narrative for Origen did not mean simply a plain account of the story of Christ, instead it impacts the hearer in a profound way. This concept of being affected by the Gospel as more than story is also found later in Gadamer’s hermeneutics, which has greatly