The works of many early critics of the Christian church were burned by ruling emperors or otherwise destroyed in the second and third centuries, but the writings of the Greek pagan philosopher, Celsus, have survived indirectly through his eloquent opponent Origen of Alexandria. In his apologetical treatise, Contra Celsum, Origen argues against the ideas set forth by Celsus and quotes from Celsus' The True Doctrine at length. Through this treatise, Celsus has come to represent the detached pagan voice of the ages. In this translation, Professor Hoffmann has, for the first...

Not much has survived its condemnation by the imperial Church in 448, but here is a new edition of the fragments of Porphyry of Tyre's (ca. 232 - ca. 305) attack on the beliefs and doctrines of Christianity, the divinity of Christ, the integrity of the apostles, and the reality of the resurrection.

Flavius Claudius Julianus, better known to history by the name imposed by his Christian opponents, Julian -the Apostate, - was a nephew of the first Christian emperor, Constantine I. Julian is one of the most fascinating figures of late antiquity. More information is available about him from both pagan and Christian sources than about any other emperor. His reign inspired both admiration and contempt.
Julian's ambitious program was to reinstate the religion of his ancestors and, in the process, to subdue the growth of the Christian church, which had achieved legitimacy under the reign of...

Originally published in 1926, this classic investigation into the question of the historicity of Jesus by Maurice Goguel, Professor of New Testament Criticism at the University of Paris, is considered one of the most important rebuttals of the "Myth Theory" of Christian origins. Advocated by a number of scholars in Europe and America, the theory maintained that Christianity evolved as an amalgam of salvation myths in circulation during the early centuries of the Roman Empire. The corollary of the theory is that the historical Jesus never existed.
Goguel first examines the meager...

The articles collected in this volume represent the independent and considered thinking of internationally known scholars from a variety of disciplines concerning the relationship between religion and violence, with special reference to the theories of "just war" and "jihad," technical terms that arise in connection with the theology of early medieval Christianity and early Islam, respectively.
The contributors include Hector Avalos, Charles K. Bellinger, Bahar Davary, Carol Delaney, J. Harold Ellens, Reuven Firestone, R. Joseph Hoffmann, Judith Lichtenberg, Pauletta Otis, Gabriel...