PHILOSOPHY, HELLENICITY, LAW: PORPHYRY ON ORIGEN, AGAIN

Porphyry's criticism of Origen (in c.Christ. fr. 39 Harnack) is usually interpreted as expressive of the 'double apostasy' accusation: Christians had not only abandoned their pagan religious traditions ('Hellenism') but also their new religious host, Judaism, whose texts they misappropriated for themselves. Reading key elements of the fragment within Porphyry's broader philosophical thought prompts suspicion of this cultural interpretation of the fragment, and instead points to a serious Platonic reaction to Christianity.