Against the Christians
The Rise of Early Anti-Christian Polemic- Second Printing| By: | Jeffrey W. Hargis |
| Publisher: | Peter Lang |
| Print ISBN: | 9780820457413 |
| eText ISBN: | 9781453910115 |
| Edition: | 2 |
| Copyright: | 2002 |
| Format: | Page Fidelity |
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Against the Christians examines the anti-Christian polemic works of Celsus, Porphyry, and Julian the Apostate. The first book to analyze the phenomenon of early anti-Christian literature in depth, it chooses the critics' objection to Christian exclusivism as its starting point. The evolution in the polemic, from a rhetoric of radical distinction to one of «rhetorical assimilation,» reveals a sophisticated attempt to expose contradictions and inconsistencies within Christianity, while at the same time reflecting the process of fusion between Christianity and the culture of late antiquity.