This monograph is the revised version of a doctoral dissertation submitted in 2003 at the Humboldt University in Berlin. In eight chapters it aims primarily at answering two questions: why are Christians labelled as unlearned and socially inferior by their pagan opponents? And how did Christian apologists between the second and third centuries cope with this label?
The answer is twofold: in the first part of the book, P. carefully delineates the social, cultural and more specifically philosophical context in which the pagan–Christian debate of the second and third centuries should be placed. In the second part, two particularly significant cases are studied: based on the example of Minucius Felix's Octavius (Oct.) and Origen's Contra Celsum (CC), the argumentative strategies of the pagans and the different reactions of their Christian opponents are analysed.
The wide introduction sets the point of the study: starting from the middle of the second century Christians are more and more perceived by pagan intellectuals as dangerous contenders on the philosophical market. A reaction is required. Thanks to hermeneutical models coming from social sciences (sociology and psychology) P. explains this pagan reaction by means of theories of marginalisation or stigmatisation of minorities – which is one of the most original and considerable aspects of the monograph. Because Christians do not respect cultural rules and customs commonly assumed by pagan elites, for example in accepting women and slaves in their classes, they can be labelled as socially inferior and discredited as unlearned and irrational. With this strategy the cultural elites intend to reduce the appeal of the Christians and maintain their own intellectual superiority.
A short status quaestionis discusses the most important studies on the subject (unfortunately K.O. Sandnes, The Challenge of Homer. School, Pagan Poets and Early Christianity [2009] is omitted, which could have been useful for the discussion on Christian attitudes towards pagan education). The introduction ends with some terminological explanations (apology, Christian theology / philosophy – the term ‘pagan’ could have been appropriately outlined here, as already noted by P. Gemeinhardt in his review in ZAC 16 [2013]) and a few words on the structure of the book.
The second and third chapter deal, on one side, with the pagan intellectual elite and its cultural ideal (paideia) and, on the other side, with the ‘unlearned competitors’ of it, i.e. the Christian philosophers and their provocation to the dominant pagan educational milieu. Of particular interest here is the comparison between Christians and cynics. Analysing the marginalising strategies against cynics, who were subject to the same allegations as the Christians and like them labelled as antisocial, makes the anti-Christian polemic understandable in a better way.
There is a detailed description of some Christian ‘schools’ before the time of Minucius and Origen: the cases of Tertullian, Justin, Tatian, Clement of Alexandria and even Bardaisan of Edessa are analysed and compared with the contemporary philosophical institutions. For P., Christian intellectuals strive to be seen as philosophers, to attract people but also to neutralise the label of unlearned people. The teaching methods and also some of the subjects (e.g. the idea of God and the assimilation to Him) were common to Christian and pagan philosophers (mostly Platonists), both focused on interpreting their founding texts. Moral education and the teaching of virtues are an essential part of the Christian programme, and the teachers hint willingly at the ethical superiority of Christians: they try to present themselves as experts of the ars vitae and confirm this self-portrait with the example of the martyrs, whose braveness when facing death could well testify to Christian coherence between doctrine and lifestyle.
P. makes interesting observations about Christian institutions and networks, which allowed even intellectuals without financial means to found a school or to grant a fast diffusion of their works – possibilities which were not always shared by the pagan philosophers.
With the fourth chapter we enter the most original part of the volume, the comparison between the two (quite different) works: Celsus is depicted as a conservative Platonist, well established in the ‘religion of learned people’ (‘Religion der Gebildeten’) and aiming to preserve the ideal of Greek paideia – the Alethes Logos – against the socially subversive behaviour of the Christians who reject it, thus proving automatically their ignorance and stupidity. Education is linked to tradition: those who abandon it have to be uneducated. Accordingly, Celsus adopts as his polemic strategy the stigmatisation of the Christians as unlearned in order to destroy their philosophical aspirations. Caecilius, the fictive pagan interlocutor of Minucius' dialogue, seems to share the same mentality: for him, too, the doctrine of the disciplina maiorum, i.e. the old tradition, establishes religious thought and behaviour.
The fifth chapter investigates the reaction of Octavius, the Christian protagonist of the same-named dialogue, to Caecilius' allegations. Minucius lets him act the part of a philosopher both in his appearance and in the arguments he uses. Even more, Octavius suggests that the main Christian doctrines are in accordance with philosophical ones and assigns Plato a central position. The Christians nevertheless have moral superiority, as they can prove congruence between lifestyle and doctrine.
Origen is presented in Chapter 6 as a Christian philosopher and intellectual. P. draws an interesting comparison between his and Plotinus' teaching activity, including remarks on their pupils, the taught subjects and the capacity to exert influence outside their own circle of students. The Christian and pagan teaching practices prove to be similar, even if Origen considers the Greek educational system (enkyklia mathemata) merely as propaedeutic to the Christian doctrines. Also in this context a major emphasis is laid on the importance of the ars vitae.
The most interesting part of the book is the analysis of Origen's reply to Celsus (Chapter 7). He faces the pagan critique of the Christians as being unlearned and socially inferior from different perspectives and with various results. P. believes that Origen and his patron Ambrose felt directly offended by this stigma and therefore they decided to react. Origen is able to turn most of Celsus' defamations against him, so that at the end he, and not the Christians, appears as the only uneducated and uncultured person. Octavius' strategy against Caecilius was the same. Origen, however, goes beyond it and turns each of Celsus' calumnies into a positive. By justifying the unlearned people within a well-structured society where everyone has his place (and the same scheme is adopted with regard to the biblical language, which can also be useful for unlearned people only if it remains simple) the stigmatisation of Celsus is neutralised and a process of hierarchisation emerges creating new rules for the Christian community. As P. herself admits, this reflects Origen's theological conviction that men (as well as the Holy Scripture with its triple sense) are divided into different categories. In my opinion, however, her choice to remain at a historical level does not avoid the danger of underestimating the complexity of Origen's theological system and perhaps of overestimating his ‘social’ or ‘political’ concerns, which are a consequence of his theological reflections and not vice versa.
A few concluding remarks (Chapter 8) precede the bibliography, which is up to date and almost exhaustive (apart from some omissions: beyond the already mentioned monograph of Sandnes, the Italian edition of Gregory Thaumaturgus' Oratio panegyrica by M. Rizzi would have enriched the argumentation of Chapter 6); two indexes (names and sources) complete the book. A subject index would have been helpful for the reader.
Some inaccuracies (e.g. at p. 36, where one reads that CC is the only work of Origen preserved in its Greek original – De oratione, Exhortatio ad Martyrium or Homiliae in Jeremiam would not exist) and minor typos do not diminish the quality of this informative and well-edited volume. It will remain compulsory reading for everyone interested in the literary debate between Christians and pagans and, more generally, in early Christianity.
