Meddling with the Gospel: Celsus, Early Christian Textuality, and the politics of reading
The second-century philosopher Celsus disparaged Christians who ‘alter the original text of the Gospel three or four or many times’ (Cels. 2.27). Modern scholars have understood this passage as criticism of multiple distinct Gospels, but Celsus’ invective is better explained by elite secondcentury p...
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Brill Academic Publishers
2023
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| _version_ | 1797109988013899776 |
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| author | Coogan, J |
| author_facet | Coogan, J |
| author_sort | Coogan, J |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | The second-century philosopher Celsus disparaged Christians who ‘alter the original text of the
Gospel three or four or many times’ (Cels. 2.27). Modern scholars have understood this passage
as criticism of multiple distinct Gospels, but Celsus’ invective is better explained by elite secondcentury polemics (e.g., Galen, Lucian, Gellius) against readers who lack discernment and
arbitrarily alter manuscripts. For Celsus, Christians’ irresponsible textual practices reveal their
cultural inferiority. The complaint is about varying copies of what Celsus thinks to be the same
work: ‘the Gospel’. Christian thinkers in the second and third centuries—including Irenaeus,
Tertullian, Hippolytus, and Origen—also participate in this discourse about good and bad
readers. This article thus offers a window into the wider ancient Mediterranean politics of
reading in which early Christian textuality emerged. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:47:25Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:bbc2d2fc-8401-43cc-96dc-4eff68ed3379 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:47:25Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publisher | Brill Academic Publishers |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:bbc2d2fc-8401-43cc-96dc-4eff68ed33792023-06-21T11:43:26ZMeddling with the Gospel: Celsus, Early Christian Textuality, and the politics of readingJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:bbc2d2fc-8401-43cc-96dc-4eff68ed3379EnglishSymplectic ElementsBrill Academic Publishers2023Coogan, JThe second-century philosopher Celsus disparaged Christians who ‘alter the original text of the Gospel three or four or many times’ (Cels. 2.27). Modern scholars have understood this passage as criticism of multiple distinct Gospels, but Celsus’ invective is better explained by elite secondcentury polemics (e.g., Galen, Lucian, Gellius) against readers who lack discernment and arbitrarily alter manuscripts. For Celsus, Christians’ irresponsible textual practices reveal their cultural inferiority. The complaint is about varying copies of what Celsus thinks to be the same work: ‘the Gospel’. Christian thinkers in the second and third centuries—including Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hippolytus, and Origen—also participate in this discourse about good and bad readers. This article thus offers a window into the wider ancient Mediterranean politics of reading in which early Christian textuality emerged. |
| spellingShingle | Coogan, J Meddling with the Gospel: Celsus, Early Christian Textuality, and the politics of reading |
| title | Meddling with the Gospel: Celsus, Early Christian Textuality, and the politics of reading |
| title_full | Meddling with the Gospel: Celsus, Early Christian Textuality, and the politics of reading |
| title_fullStr | Meddling with the Gospel: Celsus, Early Christian Textuality, and the politics of reading |
| title_full_unstemmed | Meddling with the Gospel: Celsus, Early Christian Textuality, and the politics of reading |
| title_short | Meddling with the Gospel: Celsus, Early Christian Textuality, and the politics of reading |
| title_sort | meddling with the gospel celsus early christian textuality and the politics of reading |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT cooganj meddlingwiththegospelcelsusearlychristiantextualityandthepoliticsofreading |