Barlaam and Ioasaph · Chapter
Chapter XXVII explained
Ioasaph delivers a lengthy theological discourse to King Abenner, arguing for the truth of Christianity by systematically refuting the polytheistic beliefs of the Chaldeans, Greeks, and Egyptians.
What happens
Ioasaph delivers a lengthy theological discourse to King Abenner, arguing for the truth of Christianity by systematically refuting the polytheistic beliefs of the Chaldeans, Greeks, and Egyptians. He contrasts the worship of corruptible elements and lifeless idols with the worship of the one true God, the incorruptible Creator, and affirms that the Christians alone hold the truth.
Themes in this chapter
Idolatry vs. True Worship
Ioasaph systematically condemns the worship of elements, images, and animals by Chaldeans, Greeks, and Egyptians, contrasting it with the worship of the one true God.
Divine Providence and Free Will
Ioasaph begins by attributing his own coming into the world to divine providence and argues that God's orderly creation reveals His sustaining power.
Characters to notice
Key passages
“By the providence of God, O king, came I into the world; and when I contemplated heaven and earth and sea, the sun and moon, and the other heavenly bodies, I was led to marvel at their fair order.”
I came into the world through God's plan, and observing the orderly beauty of the cosmos led me to wonder at its Creator.
Ioasaph opens his speech by grounding his faith in the observation of creation's order.
“The Chaldeans, which knew not God, went astray after the elements and began to worship the creature rather than their Creator, and they made figures of these creatures and called them likenesses of heaven, and earth and sea, of sun and moon, and of the other elements or luminaries.”
The Chaldeans, ignorant of God, mistakenly worshipped the elements and created images of them, venerating the creation instead of the Creator.
Ioasaph critiques the Chaldeans for idolatry rooted in elemental worship.
“If the body of a man, consisting of many parts, loseth not any of its proper members, but, having an unbroken union with all its members, is in harmony with itself, how in the nature of God shall there be such warfare and discord?”
If a human body maintains unity among its parts, how could the divine nature be filled with conflict and division?
Ioasaph argues that the discord among pagan gods proves they are not divine.