Celsus On The True Doctrine. A Discourse Agains... May 2026

Written around 177–180 CE, On the True Doctrine ( Logos Alēthēs ) by the Greek philosopher Celsus is the earliest known comprehensive intellectual attack on Christianity. Although the original text was lost—likely destroyed after being banned in 448 AD—it survives through extensive quotations in the rebuttal Contra Celsum , written roughly 70 years later by the Christian theologian Origen.

Celsus wrote from the perspective of a Middle Platonist, viewing Christianity as a threat to the rational and social order of the Roman Empire. Celsus On the True Doctrine. A Discourse Agains...