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Porphyry's Against the Christians: The Literary Remains

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This book presents a reconstruction of Porphyry's third century work "Against the Christians" taken from the (probably 4th century) text of Macarius Magnes. The excerpts by Porphyry are divided thematically and are accompanied by references to the biblical passages he was referring to. Because almost no anti-Christian works survive from antiquity, this reconstruction is particularly valuable as an insight into how 'pagan' or non-Christian philosophers may have viewed Christianity. Porphyry was obviously familiar with Christian teaching and scriptures, and composed a sophisticated refutation of its doctrine. There were clearly many who were deeply familiar with Christian doctrine and did not reject it out of ignorance. This book would primarily be important for studies on early Christianity, the persecutions and the religion's spread, as well as for philosophy. Because this is one of the only extant philosophical sources that was directed against Christianity. the work is essential reading for Christian-'pagan' relations in the empire. The epilogue to the book may provide a useful background for someone unfamiliar with the context. The translation is good, and the book well-organized and easy to go through. Definitely recommended.

This was an interesting look at Christianity from the perspectives of the Roman/Greek pagans. The only way to remove Porphyry's 15 book work refuting Christianity was to burn them as well as the 30 book reply by Apollnarius and other Christian works which referenced Porphyry directly.

Evidently, Porphyry's work included refutations based on geography referenced in the Gospels, as well as Babylonian law texts 'borrowed' to flesh out the five books of Moses during the Babylonian period, etc. The quotes that have survived have been paraphrased to hide their source and survived in lesser known works. This book is interesting from its historical perspective. I have to admit it was refreshing to hear a defense of Idolatry, the folly of worshiping a criminal and the hypocrasy of celibacy, as since Peter was married (1 Cor. 9:5). Porphyry's criticisms are unique because unlike Celsus, he had studied the gospel writings in significantly more depth (since he was a former convert?).

The Epilogue wasn't bad - it was carefully written and researched, though more footnoting would help.

The book gave me a new perspective on the debate. It is regrettable a form of Graeco-Roman polytheism did not survive to the modern era. Its debate adds new depth to religious thought. Its disappointing to hear from other reviewers that this book would only appeal to 'Christian haters'. This accessment is wrong. However, if you have a hard time reading opposing ideas about 'biblical difficulties', you probably should not read the book.

Because of the dilution of Porphyry's words, and the selection of words design to annoy rather than enlighten, the quotes are not as razor sharp as they should be. You get what survived the intellectual purge and the reason why to evaluate them afresh.

This is a fascinating look at early criticism of Christianity from the Roman perspective. Obviously, the material Hoffmann brought together in this volume represent mere fragments of the original 15 books Porphyry composed against the Christians (all copies of the original work were ordered burned by the Church in 448). It is nonetheless interesting to read Porphyry's extant criticisms of the inconsistencies, contradictions, and absurdities found in the Christian gospels.
The epilogue Hoffmann includes for context on Jewish, Christian, Pagan interaction in the 3rd century is worth the cover price.

The pagan reactions to Christianity are not as well known as they should be. In the eyes of many people, Christianity unfolded on a blank page--guided by providence and assured of victory. The words of {Porphyry of Tyre, the neoPlatonic philosopher-scribe who preserved the writings of Plotinus, give us a whole new slant on the struggle. I recommend this book highly.

While many of Porphyry's works were copied in Christian times, and Christians were generally interested in Neoplatonism, his work in 16 books rubbishing the Christians is lost. Works calculated to annoy both readers and copyists have few chances to survive. It was condemned as a mischievous libel by Constantine, without much effect, and again by Theodosius (448AD). The refutations by Apollonius, Methodius and Eusebius are sadly also lost. However fragments exist in various works by the church fathers, about half of which come from the Apocriticus of Macarius Magnes, preserved in a single 15th century MS (now lost). These are the fragments presented here.

The book isn't aimed at the specialist - the issues of dating, the MS tradition (less info than in this review!), the many philological issues with the text are not addressed, and footnotes are only for the translation, and mostly simply summarise Macarius' response. However references to the Apocriticus are given (an improvement on the same author's Celsus).

There is a rather pointless essay occupying the second half of the book, which the author admits is not for specialists and has not a single footnote. The introduction is unsatisfactory - for instance it does not even list the works of Porphyry. On the first page the quote from Tertullian from Ad Scapulam (title not given but obvious) is inaccurate; the lack of footnotes makes it hard to check others.

The translation is very crisp, and much the best part of the book. It is not always very accurate. For instance he translates "The evangelists were fiction-writers - not observers or eye-witnesses to the life of Jesus" (p.32) where the Greek (and Crafer) says "The evangelists were inventors, not historians of the events concerning Jesus" (p.38, Crafer, p.20 of Blondel's text). Hoffmann's version suggests they were not eye-witnesses, and consequently he can make no sense of Macarius' reply. The correct translation allows us to see that 'Porphyry' has no opinion on this - a 20th century idea - but just says that their accounts are invented.

I had wondered whether the book was worth doing. It is hard to imagine a series of reconstructions of lost anti-semitic literature being made. But somewhat to my surprise, it does have a contribution to make - a definite picture of the nature of Porphyry's work emerges, which makes it plain why it no longer exists.

The arguments of Porphyry will appeal to Christian-haters - apparently the target audience (in the first couple of pages of the introduction almost every statement by a Christian writer is labelled a 'boast' or 'brag'). Porphyry's method is to highlight by pretending an 'idiot-boy' obtuseness to what used to be called quaintly 'bible difficulties'. A few pages of this will be enough for most readers, other than the anti-Christian believer.

But the power of the work lay in its silent appeal to the embarassment at being different that any minority feels in a society that does not share its values. He sneers at Christian respect for the poor, for instance. Frequently he does not argue - merely assert that such an attitude is shameful. Of course once times changed, this process worked in reverse, and his appeals to the shibboleths of a vanished society were at best meaningless, and the obtuseness embarassing even to his admirers in Christian Greece. This then is the real reason the work had power, and why it is lost.

This book suffers because the editing is not up to standard, and the statements made are usually undocumented and too often have not been verified. I missed any discussion of the many interesting problems of philology posed by the text. It would have been nice if Hoffmann had gone to look for the MS, as I suspect it is only lost because no-one has seriously searched.

It is always nice to see a new version of any ancient work, even if a popularisation like this, particularly for so obscure a work as the Apocriticus.

Note: This text has not been considered an academic work by the scholarly community; it is not listed in the academic bibliography l'Annee Philologique, and so I presume was not reviewed by any academic journals.

This well researched book summarizes the pagan response to the Gospels. It's fascinating and extremely surprising.

A priceless refutation of both Christianity and Judaism by one of the most astute minds of the third century A.D. Mid-East. Given Christianity's indelible record of death and destruction, its refreshing to examine opposing views of the religion of Christ, from a period before the west completely succumbed to Christianity's barbarous hordes. The pagans have been so maligned in Christian literature and practice, most people are unaware of the depth of their philosophical insight and the logical clarity by which they dismantled the blind faith based Christian religion and its equally questionable parent, Judaism. Read this book and learn how an accomplished thinker of this era viewed these then revolutionary religions, as they bludgeoned and conspired their way to the dominant positions they occupy today.

Porphyry is one of history's most astute minds. Our understanding of Aristotle (for instance his Categories) would be much poorer without Porphyry's commentaries. His employment of Alexandrian critical methodology utilised historical analysis to arrive at an understanding of mythical & pseudo historical texts. One such critique by Porphyry exposed a popular book on Persian religious practice, the "Zosimus", to be a recent book and therefore a fraud. He also analysed the Odyssey concluding that its stories were to be interpreted as allegories. Employing this very same technique, he demonstrated christian mythology to be a series of unhistorical myths. Where-as the god of Greek philosophy (as posited by Aristotle for instance), employed logic and argument to arrive at the "unmoved mover", the Christians demanded that their god be accepted solely on the basis of unquestioning and blind acceptance. In this world of Greek thought, the bible's myths had no chance of survival. (It is not without reason that the Christian's holy book states in 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 "Jews demand miraculous signs and the Greeks look for wisdom, but we teach Christ crucified... the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom" and 1 Corinthians 3:19-20 "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight... 'The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.'")

Porphyry's work it should be noted was written in the context of the philosophical debates of his times, like those of Stoics refuting Epicureans (& vice versa), even the debates between (pagan) Simplicius and (Christian) Philoponus (later) in the fifth & sixth centuries. That Christianity is a fraud was evidently already known in antiquity. Had Porphyry been heeded humanity may have been spared considerable suffering. One amazon reviewer suggests emotively that it is anti-semitic - one suspects solely on the grounds that it critiques what are essentially jewish myths. The same critic even goes so far as to claim that this book will only be appreciated by "Christian-haters". These claims need to be seriously addressed and corrected.

Criticism of Christianity cannot ever make Porphyry's text anti-semitic. Indeed it was on Christianity's exhortation that the greatest acts of anti-semitism have been perpetrated because the christian religion is founded on anti-semitism, refer: 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16.

(One can go further; Hitler's entire campaign to eliminate Jews was a Christian one. Hitler wrote in his Mein Kampf that it was his Christian duty not to tolerate Jews or breed with them; that it "is a sin against the will of the Eternal creator" (p.391 the Manheim translation of Mein Kampf); and that Christian intolerance has been Christianity's greatest strength - and begrudgingly acknowledges this intolerance to itself be Jewish (pp. 412-413, Manheim translation of Mein Kampf). Hitler's Mein Kampf does not name the actual biblical passages that demand intolerance, but they can be found in the Old Testament (especially Deuteronomy 20:16 - as well as other passages, eg, Numbers 33: 51-56, Deuteronomy 12:2-3, etc); and the passages on racial purity can be found in Ezra 9:1-2 & Ezra 10:1-4. In p. 598 (of the Manheim translation) Hitler stated that his aim was to re-start where the Germans left off 600 years earlier - that is, restart the Christian Crusades of the Teutonic Knights!)

It pays to remember that a translation of any writing carries with it certain conventions. One convention that was thankfully abandoned centuries ago is the "de verbo ad verbum" (word for word) translation which rendered texts unintelligible in translation. On this basis, for instance, a modern translation of Plato's use of the greek word "idea" instead now translates "idea" as "forms" to render its greek meaning unencumbered by modern english assumptions on the word. Similarly, the greek word "historia" although literally "history" (in english) would lose the greek meaning of the word: that the history itself has either been WITNESSED by the author (eg Herodotus/ Thucydides), or those the author is quoting from (eg Polibius).

That Porphyry successfully exposed Christian doctrine to be a fraud can possibly be best attested to by the scurrilous reactions to his doing so. It should be noted that Theodosius' edict to have the book burnt was an act emulated in the book-burnings by that other Christian embarrassment, Hitler, (over) one and a half millennia later.

It should be embarrassing to christians that most of Porphyry's other writings on logic were used without interruption by both christians and non-christians: thus Porphyry's logic was sound when used in non-Christian subjects, but the same logic applied to Christianity was flawed!