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...
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| Format: | Article (Journal) |
| Language: | English |
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07 May 2019
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| In: |
Vigiliae Christianae
Year: 2019, Volume: 73, Issue: 2, Pages: 159-173 |
| ISSN: | 1570-0720 |
| DOI: | 10.1163/15700720-12341395 |
| Online Access: | Resolving-System: https://brill.com/view/journals/vc/73/2/article-p159_4.xml Verlag, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1163/15700720-12341395 
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| Author Notes: | Matthias Becker |
| 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: | Online Resource |
| ISSN: | 1570-0720 |
| DOI: | 10.1163/15700720-12341395 |