Celsus

Celsus was a 2nd-century <a href="/facts/Ancient_Greek_philosophy/LWEkp8JX">Greek philosopher</a> and <a href="/facts/Criticism_of_Christianity/0LmXemJC">opponent</a> of <a href="/facts/Early_Christianity/LmdNJmea">early Christianity</a>. His literary work <a href="/facts/The_True_Word/KEBXtg9M">The True Word</a> (also Account, Doctrine or Discourse; Greek: <a href="/facts/Hellenistic_Greek_language/StKuT1sY">Hellenistic Greek</a>: Λόγος Ἀληθής) survives exclusively via quotations in <a href="/facts/Contra_Celsum/C1hdv6cN">Contra Celsum</a>, a refutation written in 248 by <a href="/facts/Origen_of_Alexandria/4o9sw2RQ">Origen of Alexandria</a>. The True Word is the earliest known comprehensive <a href="/facts/Criticism_of_Christianity/0LmXemJC">criticism of Christianity and Judaism</a>.
Hanegraaff has argued that The True Word was written shortly after the death of <a href="/facts/Justin_Martyr/IVhGxIKa">Justin Martyr</a> (who was possibly the first <a href="/facts/Christian_apologetics/z3RwdPc3">Christian apologist</a>), and was probably a response to his work. Origen stated that Celsus was from the first half of the 2nd century AD, although the majority of modern scholars have come to a general consensus that Celsus probably wrote around AD 170 to 180.

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Celsus