Summary Of Contra Celsus

In a passage preserved by Origen in Contra Celsum, Celsus advances a pagan Christology. Noting that no god or son of god had ever come to earth, Celsus suggests that a being such as Christ could be an angel or a god, but most likely a daimon (Contra Celsum, 5.2). This paper explores how this passage may be informed by supplementing the Celsus' non-extant demonology with previous views on daimones, all the while being mindful the Celsus has been filtered through Origen's own Christology and demonology. It is not unfounded to assert that Origen's work can perhaps inform our understanding of pagan demonology. Much recent scholarship has demonstrated that both pagans and Christians shared overlapping religious beliefs. Early Christians did not develop daimones ex nihilo as merely a rhetorical tool: pagans and Christians shared the same cultural milieu.
Celsus’s discussion of daimones is found within his larger argument for the correct worship of the highest god.
Celsus presents a henotheistic framework which necessitated the worship of the highest god’s subordinates: beings such as angels, daimones, and heroes (cf. Contra Celsum, 7.68). Within his argument, Celsus seems to take the ontological category of “daimon” for granted, only explicitly describing how daimones fit into a greater cosmology. This picture is further complicated by the very fuzzy definition of what constituted a “daimon” in antiquity. Among many definitions, daimones were cited as gods (Il.1.222, 3.420), the spirits of heroes (Hes. Op. 314), and intermediary spirits (Symp.
202d-203a).
Nevertheless, the exploratory lens of Celsus’s identification of Christ as daimon may provide a means to discern common beliefs regarding daimones. Celsus’s theoretical attempt to fit the figure of Christ into pagan cosmology may itself help narrow down the common cultural understandings regarding daimones. In other words, by interacting with Christian beliefs, Celsus perhaps begins to articulate formerly tacit “pagan” beliefs about daimones. Adding to the scholarly discourse on pagan demonologies in late antiquity, this paper explores how earlier demonologies may inform (yet not dictate) our understanding of daimones in Celsus. Presentations of daimones from sources (as varied as Middle Platonists, the Greek magical papyri, and the Derveni papyrus) are used to explore Celsus’s views on daimones. Such an investigation of Celsus’s fragments may perhaps shed light on latter “pagan” demonologies, such as those found in Porphyry and Iamblichus. While not providing any definitive answers, this paper seeks to provide possibilities for continued exploration on “pagan” demonologies that will help to bridge disciplinary divides.