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Disputatio Christiani et Saraceni

A Dialogue of a Saracen and a Christian 1 The Christian was asked by a Saracen: Whom do you say is the cause of good and evil? The Christian: We say that no one is the cause of all good things except God, but not of evil things. And the Saracen answered and said: Whom do you say is the cause of evil things? The Christian: The one who is so by his own will, that is, the devil, and we, human beings. The Saracen: For what reason? The Christian: Because of free will. The Saracen: What then? Do you have free will and, whatever you wish, are you able to do and do you do? The Christian: I have been created with free will by God for two things only. The Saracen: What are these? The Christian: To do evil and to do good, that is, what is good and what is evil. For this reason, when I do evil things, I am punished by the law of God, but when I do good things, I do not fear the law, but am also honored and shown mercy by God. Likewise, the devil was also created with free will by God before humans and he sinned, and God cast him out of his own rank. But perhaps you will also say to me in contradiction: 'What are these good and evil things you speak of? Behold, the sun and the moon and the stars are good; make one of these.' I am not speaking to you about these things; I mean the good and evil that human beings do. Good things, for example, are the glorification of God and prayer and almsgiving and things similar to these, but evil things are fornication, theft and the like; since, if, as you say, good and evil things are from God, God will be found, according to you, to be unjust, which he is not; for since God commanded, as you say, the fornicator to fornicate and the thief to steal and the murderer to murder, they are worthy of honor; for they did the will of God. Your lawgivers will also be found to be liars and your books falsely inscribed, since they command the fornicator and the thief to be flogged for doing the will of God, and the murderer to be killed, who ought to have been honored, since he did the will of God. But the Saracen: Who forms the infants in the wombs of women? For the Saracens put this forth to us as a most terrible problem, wishing to prove that God is the cause of evil things. For if I answer and say that God forms infants in the wombs of women, the Saracen will say: 'Behold, God is a co-worker with the fornicator and the adulterer.' The Christian answers to these things: Nowhere after the first week of the creation of the world do we find scripture saying that God forms or creates anything. But if you doubt about this, show a creation or a formation of any kind whatsoever made by God after the first week, but you can in no way prove this; for all visible creations came into being in the first week. For God formed man in the first week and commanded him to beget and be begotten, saying: "Increase and multiply and fill the earth." And since the man was ensouled, having ensouled seed, the seed sprouted in his own wife. So that man begets man, just as the divine scripture says: "For Adam begot Seth, and Seth begot Enos, and Enos begot Cainan, and Cainan begot Maleleel, and Maleleel begot Jared, and Jared begot Enoch". And it did not say: 'God formed Seth or Enos or any other,' and from this we know that Adam alone was formed by God, but those after him are begotten and beget until the present. And thus by the grace of God the world is held together, since also every herb and every plant by the command of God from that time begets and is begotten—for God said:

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Disputatio Christiani et Saraceni

∆ιάλεξις Σαρακηνοῦ καὶ Χριστιανοῦ 1 Ἐρωτηθεὶς ὁ Χριστιανὸς παρὰ Σαρακηνοῦ· Τίνα λέγεις αἴτιον καλοῦ καὶ κακοῦ; ὁ Χριστιανός· Πάντων τῶν ἀγαθῶν οὐδένα φαμὲν αἴτιον εἶναι εἰ μὴ τὸν θεόν, κακῶν δὲ οὔ. Καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς ὁ Σαρακηνὸς εἶπεν· Τίνα λέγεις αἴτιον τῶν κακῶν; Ὁ Χριστιανός· Τὸν ἀπὸ γνώμης ὄντα διάβολον δηλονότι καὶ ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους. Ὁ Σαρακηνός· Χάριν τίνος; Ὁ Χριστιανός· ∆ιὰ τὸ αὐτεξούσιον. Ὁ Σαρακηνός· Τί οὖν· Αὐτεξούσιος εἶ καί, ὅσα θέλεις, δύνασαι ποιεῖν καὶ ποιεῖς; Ὁ Χριστιανός· Εἰς δύο μόνα πέπλασμαι ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ αὐτεξούσιος. Ὁ Σαρακηνός· Ποῖα ταῦτα; Ὁ Χριστιανός· Κακοπραγεῖν καὶ ἀγαθοπραγεῖν, ὅ ἐστι καλὸν καὶ κακόν. Χάριν τούτου κακὰ μὲν πράττων τιμωροῦμαι ὑπὸ νόμου τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀγαθὰ δὲ πράττων οὐ φοβοῦμαι τὸν νόμον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τιμῶμαι καὶ ἐλεοῦμαι ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ. Ὁμοίως καὶ ὁ διάβολος πρὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων αὐτεξούσιος πέπλασται ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἡμάρτησεν, καὶ ὁ θεὸς τῆς ἰδίας τάξεως ἐξέωσεν αὐτόν. Ἀλλ' ἴσως καὶ ἐρεῖς μοι ἀντιλέγων· Ποῖά εἰσιν, ἃ λέγεις καλὰ καὶ κακά; Ἰδοὺ ὁ ἥλιος καὶ ἡ σελήνη καὶ οἱ ἀστέρες καλοί εἰσιν· ποίησον ἓν ἐκ τούτων. Οὐ χάριν τούτου προλέγω σοι· κατὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐργάζομαι καλὰ καὶ κακά. Καλὰ μέν, οἷόν ἐστι δοξολογία θεοῦ καὶ προσευχὴ καὶ ἐλεημοσύνη καὶ τὰ τούτοις ὅμοια, κακὰ δὲ πορνεία, κλεψία καὶ τὰ ὅμοια· ἐπεί, ὡς λέγεις σύ, καλὰ καὶ κακὰ ἐκ θεοῦ εἶναι, εὑρεθήσεται ὁ θεὸς κατὰ σὲ ἄδικος, ὅπερ οὐκ ἔστιν· ἐπεὶ γὰρ ὁ θεὸς προσέταξεν, ὡς σὺ λέγεις, τὸν πόρνον πορνεύειν καὶ τὸν κλέπτην κλέπτειν καὶ τὸν ἀνδροφόνον ἀνδροφονεῖν, ἄξιοί εἰσιν τιμῆς· τὸ γὰρ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ ἐποίησαν. Εὑρεθήσονται καὶ οἱ νομοθέται σου ψευδεῖς καὶ τὰ βιβλία σου ψευδεπίγραφα, ἐπειδὴ προστάττουσι τὸν πόρνον καὶ τὸν κλέπτην δέρεσθαι ποιήσαντας τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὸν ἀνδροφόνον ἀποκτανθῆναι, ὃν ἔδει τιμηθῆναι, ἐπειδὴ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ ἐποίησεν. Ὁ δὲ Σαρακηνός· Τίς, φησί, πλάττει τὰ βρέφη ἐν κοιλίαις γυναικῶν; Τοῦτο γὰρ προβάλλονται οἱ Σαρακηνοὶ πρὸς ἡμᾶς πρόβλημα δεινότατον θέλοντες ἀποδεῖξαι τὸν θεὸν αἴτιον τῶν κακῶν. Εἰ γὰρ ἀποκριθεὶς λέγω, ὅτι ὁ θεὸς πλάττει τὰ βρέφη ἐν κοιλίαις γυναικῶν, ἐρεῖ ὁ Σαρακηνός· Ἰδοὺ ὁ θεὸς σύνεργός ἐστι τῷ πόρνῳ καὶ τῷ μοιχῷ. Ὁ Χριστιανὸς πρὸς ταῦτα ἀποκρίνεται· Οὐδαμῶς εὑρίσκομεν μετὰ τὴν πρώτην ἑβδομάδα τῆς κοσμοποιίας τὴν γραφὴν λέγουσαν πλάττειν τὸν θεὸν ἢ κτίζειν τι. Εἰ δὲ ἀμφιβάλλεις περὶ τούτου, δεῖξον σὺ κτίσμα ἢ πλάσμα οἱονδηποτοῦν μετὰ τὴν πρώτην ἑβδομάδα γενόμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀλλ' οὐδαμῶς δύνασαι τοῦτο ἀποδεῖξαι· πάντα γὰρ τὰ ὁρατὰ κτίσματα τὴν πρώτην ἑβδομάδα γεγόνασιν. Ἔπλασεν γὰρ ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον τὴν πρώτην ἑβδομάδα καὶ προσέταξεν αὐτὸν γεννᾶν καὶ γεννᾶσθαι εἰπών· «Αὐξάνεσθε καὶ πληθύνεσθε καὶ πληρώσατε τὴν γῆν.» Καὶ ἐπειδὴ ἔμψυχος ἦν ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἔμψυχον σπέρμα ἔχων, ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ γυναικὶ σπορὰ ἀνεφύη. Ὥστε ἄνθρωπος ἄνθρωπον γεννᾷ, καθάπερ ἡ θεία γραφὴ λέγει· «Ἀδὰμ γὰρ ἐγέννησε τὸν Σήθ, καὶ ὁ Σὴθ ἐγέννησε τὸν Ἐνώς, καὶ Ἐνὼς ἐγέννησε τὸν Καϊνάν, καὶ Καϊνὰν ἐγέννησε τὸν Μαλελεήλ, καὶ Μαλελεὴλ ἐγέννησε τὸν Ἰάρεδ, καὶ Ἰάρεδ ἐγέννησε τὸν Ἑνώχ». Καὶ οὐκ εἶπεν· Ὁ θεὸς ἔπλασε τὸν Σὴθ ἢ τὸν Ἐνὼς ἢ ἄλλον τινά, καὶἐντεῦθεν γινώσκομεν, ὅτι μονώτατος ὁ Ἀδὰμ πέπλασται ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, οἱ δὲ μετ' ἐκεῖνον γεννῶνται καὶ γεννῶσιν ἕως τοῦ παρόντος. Καὶ οὕτως χάριτι θεοῦ ὁ κόσμος συνίσταται, ἐπειδὴ καὶ πᾶσα βοτάνη καὶ πᾶν φυτὸν προστάξει τοῦ θεοῦ ἀπὸ τότε γεννᾷ καὶ γεννᾶται-ἔφη γὰρ ὁ θεός·