Editing Celsus (section)

{{Short description|2nd-century Greek philosopher}}
{{Other people}}
{{distinguish|Celsius}}
{{Infobox philosopher
|other_names=Kélsos
| name          = Celsus
| image         = 
| caption       = 
| birth_date    = 
| birth_place   = 
| death_date    = 
| death_place   = 
| occupation    = [[Philosopher]]
| language       = [[Koine Greek|Greek]]
| nationality     = [[Roman citizenship|Roman]]
| notable_works = ''[[The True Word]]''
|main_interests=[[Theology]]|region=[[Western philosophy]]|era=[[Ancient philosophy]]|school_tradition=Possibly [[Platonism]], [[Aristotelianism]], [[Epicureanism]] or [[Eclecticism]]
}}
[[File:Kata Kelsou.jpg|thumb|[[Origen]], ''Contra Celsum'' ([[Cambridge]], 1676 edition)]]

'''Celsus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɛ|l|s|ə|s}}; {{langx|grc-x-hellen|Κέλσος}}, ''Kélsos''; {{Floruit|AD 175–177}}) was a 2nd-century [[Ancient Greek philosophy|Greek philosopher]] and [[Criticism of Christianity|opponent]] of [[early Christianity]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Young |first=Frances M. |author-link=Frances Young |year=2006 |chapter=Monotheism and Christology |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6UTfmw_zStsC&pg=PA452 |editor1-last=Mitchell |editor1-first=Margaret M. |editor1-link=Margaret M. Mitchell |editor2-last=Young |editor2-first=Frances M. |title=The Cambridge History of Christianity: Origins to Constantine |location=[[Cambridge]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |volume=1 |pages=452–470 |isbn=978-0-521-81239-9}}</ref>{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=609}}<ref name=JE1906>{{Cite encyclopedia |last1=Gottheil |first1=Richard |author1-link=Richard James Horatio Gottheil |last2=Krauss |first2=Samuel |author2-link=Samuel Krauss |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4167-celsus |title=CELSUS (Kέλσος) |encyclopedia=[[Jewish Encyclopedia]] |year=1906 |publisher=[[Kopelman Foundation]] |access-date=4 September 2020}}</ref> His literary work ''[[The True Word]]'' (also ''Account'', ''Doctrine'' or ''Discourse''; Greek: {{langx|grc-x-hellen|Λόγος Ἀληθής}})<ref name="Hoffmann p.29">Hoffmann p.29</ref><ref name=doc/> survives exclusively via quotations in ''[[Contra Celsum]]'', a refutation written in 248 by [[Origen of Alexandria]].<ref name=JE1906/> ''The True Word'' is the earliest known comprehensive [[criticism of Christianity|criticism of Christianity and Judaism]].<ref name=JE1906/>

Hanegraaff<ref name=Ha/> has argued that ''The True Word'' was written shortly after the death of [[Justin Martyr]] (who was possibly the first [[Christian apologetics|Christian apologist]]), and was probably a response to his work.<ref name=Ha>Hanegraaff  p.22</ref> Origen stated that Celsus was from the first half of the 2nd century AD, although the majority of modern scholars have come to a general consensus that Celsus probably wrote around AD 170 to 180.<ref>{{harvnb|Hoffmann|1987|pp=30–32}}</ref><ref name="Chadwick, H. 1965">Chadwick, H., ''Origen: Contra Celsum'', CUP (1965), p. xxviii. The arguments for the date depend on factors such as the state of the art of gnosticism, possible references to the Augusti, appeals to defense against barbarian invasion, and the possibility of identifying the persecution described by Celsus with a historical one.</ref>