The history of early Christianity has been told mostly by Christian writings only. However, newly discovered documents such as the Gnostic manuscripts discovered in Egypt, have expanded the collection of sources. These works, written by Christians who were not part of the mainstream, have given us new insight into the history and character of the early Christian movement. The Gnostic writings, though declared deviant and heretical by the leaders of the Mother Church, were still written by Christians. There is however, another body of material that comes from the observation of pagan observers of Christianity. They were Roman and Greek writers whose works were seldom made available to the public.
The first mention of the Christian movement was by Pliny, a Roman governor at the beginning of the second century. He called Christianity a "superstition." Later in the century, Celsus, a Greek philosopher, wrote that Jesus was a magician and sorcerer.
What do comments of this sort mean in the world in which Christianity was struggling to become noticed? Most of the comments by outsiders about Christianity have come down to us in fragmentary form. They appear in letters, essays, or histories dealing with some other topic. In some cases information came from other books attacking Christianity which were destroyed.
When Christianity gained control of the Roman Empire it suppressed the writings of its critics and cast them into the flames. Yet, the number of fragments that survive were written by Christians. Ironically, they refute Christianity, and they offer a vivid portrait.
The use of the term "superstition" was used to refer to the Christians by a couple of Roman writers who were living in that era.
In the first century C.E., Tacitus, a close friend and colleague of Pliny, mentioned the Christians in his account of the burning of Rome under Nero. Although, the writer had no interest in the new Christian movement, he wanted to make a point about the extent of Nero's vanity and the magnitude of his vices, and to expose the crimes he committed against the Roman people.
Toward the end of the first century of the Common Era, a Greek philosopher, and contemporary of Pliny and Tacitus, wrote a little treatise on superstition. The work is usually attributed to Plutarch (50 - 120 C.E.), a native of Greece. A pious and devote adherent of the ancient religion of Greece, he also served as priest at Delphi, a great religious shrine in central Greece. His book On Superstition, is interesting as a reflection of spirituality, which is sensitive to Greek thinkers on superstition and piety. However, there is no mention of Christianity.
According to Plutarch, superstition sets people off from the rest of society because the superstitious person does not use intelligence.in thinking about the gods. Instead he/she creates fearful images and horrible apparitions that leads to bizarre and extreme behavior. Further, Plutarch states that because superstition leads to irrational ideas about the gods, the inevitable consequence is atheism. "Atheists do not see the gods at all," but the superstitious man "thinks they exist" and conjures up false ideas about them.
Around the year 170 C.E., a Greek philosopher by the name of Celsus wrote a major book devoted solely to the Christians. He mentions that some Christians were arrogant and contemptuous of the opinions of others, they kept to themselves and appealed to people's fears or ignorance.
Because many people in the churches were uneducated and illiterate, Christians had the reputation of being gullible and credulous. There is a story about the fraudster Peregrinus, who became a member of the church for no other reason than to exploit simple Christians. The authorities finally caught up with him and had him imprisoned.
However, naive Christians still did not see through his deception. While he was in prison, they waited on him hand and foot, bringing him food and money and treating him as a hero. "The poor wretches have convinced themselves ...that they are going to be immortal and live for all time...They despise all things indiscriminately and consider them common property, receiving such doctrines traditionally without any definite evidence. So that any charlatan and trickster, able to profit by occasions, comes among them, he quickly acquires sudden wealth by imposing upon simple folk." Christians were an easy target for the racketeers of the Roman Empire.
Celsus was the first critic to call Jesus a magician and charge the Christian with practicing magic. The practice of magic was a criminal offense in the Roman Empire, and many of the things recorded about Jesus in the Gospels were similar to the things magicians did.
Christians claim that the miracles that Jesus performed proved that he was the son of God. The question was, by whose power was he able to accomplish such wonders? Celsus knew from his reading of the Gospels that Jesus was reported to have spent some time in Egypt where magic was taught and well known among certain groups. He concluded that Jesus "was brought up in secret and hired himself out as a workman in Egypt. After having tried his hand at certain magical powers he returned from Egypt, and on account of those powers he learned, gave himself the title "Son of God." The point Celsus raised became central to his attack on Christianity. Did Jesus' ability to work wonders mean that he was the son of God, or was he another successful magician like others who could be found in the cities and towns of the Roman Empire? Celsuss' charge that Jesus was a magician was not separate from his overall criticism of the Christian movement. He wanted to show that Christians had no basis for claiming that Jesus was the son of God, because he was not the only one to work wonders; others had similar powers.
One major criticism leveled at the Christian view of God, specifically, the consequences of the worship of Jesus for the idea that God is one. "If the Christians worshiped no other God but one, perhaps they would have had a valid argument against others. But in fact they worship to an extravagant degree this man who appeared recently, and think it does not offend God if they also worship his servant."
Porphyry, a Neoplatonic philosopher 300 C.E., did not accuse Jesus of practicing magic, instead he praised him as a "wise man" and disassociated himself from such criticism so that Jesus could be integrated into his portrait of the traditional religion.
For two centuries Christian intellectuals had been forging a link between Christianity and the classical tradition of Rome. With one swift stroke of the pen, Julian, the Roman emperor, sought to sever the link between the two. Wealthy Christian parents, insisted that their sons receive the rhetorical education, and it now appeared as though Julian was limiting this to pagans.
"So grave was the situation that Christians sought their own way of insuring that their children would be properly educated. A Christian father and son, both named Apollinarius, came up with the idea of rendering the Scriptures in the style and form of Greek literature.
In the summer of 362 C.E., Julian went to northern Syria where the cities were renowned for Greek culture and learning. Many of the inhabitants were Christians, and Julian was disappointed to discover how influential they were. It irritated him that they (he called them "atheists") had no respect for the "sacred rites which their forefathers observed."
Julian points out that the notion that Jesus is divine was a fabrication of his followers, not the teachings of Jesus himself. The Jewish Scriptures made clear that there is no basis in the writings of Moses for the idea that Jesus is divine. Julians' writings was still being read in the middle of the fifth century. Before he became Emperor of Rome, he was a Christian himself, and had studied the Holy Scriptures. His point was not the only one against Jesus' divinity. It was also disputed within the church. During the struggle to become legally recognized by the state, the General Council of Churches in 325, decided that decisions made about belief were considered to be infallible, and the Council of Nicaea stated, "The Son is of the same substance as the father and who suffered pain, killed and came back to life.
Julian's feelings were ambivalent toward Judaism and the Jewish Scriptures. He respected Jewish traditions and in observing the ritual requirements of the law - yet he ridiculed the myths and legends of the Jewish Scriptures. His point was not to criticize the Jews but to engage the Christians who had taken over the Jewish conception and still used the Jewish Scriptures.
According to Julian, the God of the Hebrews and Christians was a "sectional god," and the proper way to honor him was to venerate him as a lesser deity subordinate to the one high God. One should not pretend that he was more than he was.
If the proper object of the highest form of worship is the "God of all" and not a tribal God, it follows, says Julian, that this high God is not the property of any particular people, nor can he be known through a particular revelation. The God of all is known to all humankind.
That the human race possesses its knowledge of God by nature and not from teaching is proved to us first by all the universal yearning for the divine that is in all humans whether private persons or communities, whether considered as individuals or as races. For all of us, without being taught, have attained to a belief in some sort of divinity, though it is not easy for all people to know the precise truth about it, nor is it possible for those who do not know it to tell it to all people.
Julian's view was shared by many philosophers and religious thinkers in his own day and remains one of the philosophical debates and religious discussions in our own time.
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