Translations from Alan of Lille’s “Against the Jews” (Book 3)
Context
These passages are from Alan of Lille’s (Alanus de Insulis, c. 1128-1202/3) theological treatise De fide catholica contra haereticos (On the Catholic Faith Against Heretics), specifically Book 3, which is titled “Contra Judaeos” (Against the Jews). This work represents medieval Christian anti-Jewish polemics, arguing against Jewish theological positions on the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, and the continuing validity of Mosaic Law.
Passage 1: Jews Called “Triflers” on the Trinity
Latin (lines 28924-28936):
Audi, Israel: Dominus Deus noster, Dominus unus est (Deut. i). Non ergo triplex, sicut Christiani dicunt hic, nugantes, Deus est Pater, Deus est Filius, Deus est Spiritus sanctus. Alius item Pater, alius Filius, alius Spiritus sanctus, et interim negant tres deos esse. Quae est haec monstruositas ut in Trinitate sit unitas, et in unitate sit Trinitas? Quomodo unus solus Deus est, si plura sunt Deus? Qui hoc dicunt, deos constituunt alienos, contra praeceptum Domini qui ait: Non habebis deos alienos (Exod. xxi). Qui unum quidem et solum esse Deum dicunt, et plures tamen esse asserunt. Si Deus voluisset ut Judaei crederent tres personas…
English Translation:
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deut. 6:4). Therefore [God is] not triple, as Christians say here, trifling/talking nonsense: “God is the Father, God is the Son, God is the Holy Spirit.” Moreover, the Father is one thing, the Son another, the Holy Spirit another, and meanwhile they deny that there are three gods. What is this monstrosity, that in the Trinity there should be unity, and in unity there should be Trinity? How is God one and alone, if several things are God? Those who say this establish foreign gods, contrary to the precept of the Lord who says: “You shall not have foreign gods” (Exod. 20:3). [Christians] who say that God is one and alone, yet assert that there are several. If God had wished the Jews to believe in three persons…
Note: Here Alan is presenting Jewish objections to the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, characterizing Christian teaching as “nugantes” (trifling, talking nonsense).
Passage 2: Jews Proving Christ is Not God
Latin (lines 29828-29860):
Probant etiam Judaei Christum non fore Deum, auctoritatibus, sic: Non assumes nomen Dei tui in vanum (Exod. xx). In vanum nomen Dei assumit, qui homini nomen et cultum divinitatis attribuit; nam si vanitas est omnis homo (Psal. xxxviii), qui hominem Deum credit et Deum appellat, homini nomen culturque divinitatis attribuit. Item, in lege scriptum est: Qui fecerit se Deum, occidatur (Deut. xiii). Nullus ergo homo est Deus. Praeterea, si nulla est apud Deum transmutatio, nec vicissitudinis obumbratio (Jacob. i), quomodo penes eum potest fieri tanta rerum alteratio, ut Deus homo fiat, Creator creatura, et incorruptibilis credatur esse factus corruptela? Quomodo accipitur: In principio, Domine, terram fundasti, et opera manuum tuarum sunt caeli; ipsi peribunt, tu autem permanes, et omnia sicut vestimentum veterascent; tu autem idem ipse es, et anni tui non deficient (Psal. ci). Quomodo idem Deus ipse est, si alteratus, homo potest fieri? Si Deus est immensus, quomodo parva humanorum divisione membrorum potuit dimensus circumscribi? Si Deus est immensus, et incircumscriptus, quo argumentationis genere dicitur, quia dimensione corporea circumscriptus totus sub angusto uno Matris utero potuit comprehensus teneri? Adhuc, si Deus est quo nihil majus vel sufficientius cogitari potest, qua necessitate coactus, humanae calamitatis particeps, tantorum factus est consors malorum? Denique, si Deus factus homo, quomodo stabit quod ipse locutus est ad Moysen…
English Translation:
The Jews also prove that Christ is not God by [the following] authorities, thus: “You shall not take the name of your God in vain” (Exod. 20:7). He takes the name of God in vain who attributes the name and worship of divinity to a man; for if “every man is vanity” (Psalm 39:6), whoever believes a man to be God and calls him God, attributes to a man the name and worship of divinity. Likewise, it is written in the Law: “Whoever makes himself God, let him be killed” (cf. Deut. 13). Therefore no man is God. Moreover, if “there is no change with God, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17), how can such a great alteration of things happen with him, that God becomes man, the Creator becomes creature, and the incorruptible is believed to have been made corruption? How is this understood: “In the beginning, Lord, you founded the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands; they will perish, but you remain, and all things will grow old like a garment; but you are the same, and your years will not fail” (Psalm 102:25-27). How is God himself the same, if, being altered, he can become man? If God is immense, how could he be measured and circumscribed by the small division of human limbs? If God is immense and uncircumscribed, by what kind of argument is it said that, circumscribed by bodily dimension, he could be held entirely contained under the narrow womb of one Mother? Furthermore, if God is that than which nothing greater or more sufficient can be thought, by what necessity was he compelled, made a partaker of human calamity, to become a sharer in so many evils? Finally, if God became man, how will that stand which he himself spoke to Moses…
Note: Alan is presenting Jewish theological arguments against the Incarnation and divinity of Christ.
Passage 3: Jews and Pagans Together Oppose Christians
Latin (lines 30364-30366):
in hoc tamen cum Judaeis conveniunt, quod in divinam trinitatem abnegant. Ad quos confutandos, quae contra Judaeos de unitate et trinitate diximus, dicta sufficiant.
English Translation:
Nevertheless they [the Saracens/Muslims] agree with the Jews in this, that they deny the divine Trinity. To refute them, what we have said against the Jews concerning unity and trinity will suffice.
Passage 4: Pagans and Jews Insult Christians
Latin (lines 30803-30806):
Nobis etiam insultant pagani cum Judaeis, quia habemus imagines in ecclesiis nostris, et sculptilia, in quo videmur obviare praecepto divino, quod ait: Non facies tibi sculptile, nec omnem similitudinem quae est in caelo vel in terra, vel in aquis, vel sub terra (Exod. xx; Deut. v).
English Translation:
Pagans also insult us together with the Jews, because we have images in our churches, and carved things, in which we seem to go against the divine precept, which says: “You shall not make for yourself a graven image, nor any likeness of anything that is in heaven or on earth, or in the waters, or under the earth” (Exod. 20:4; Deut. 5:8).
Passage 5: God Veiled the Mystery from the Jews
Latin (lines 28994-29000):
Ideo autem hoc mysterium Deus Judaeis in veteri lege figuris velavit, sicut et alia ad fidem pertinentia, ut secundum temporis accessum, Christianae religionis fides haberet progressum. Nam ante legem Mosaicam sufficiebat alicui credere quod unus esset Deus, idemque remunerator esset bonorum, et punitor malorum…
English Translation:
Therefore God veiled this mystery from the Jews in the Old Law with figures, just as other things pertaining to the faith, so that according to the passage of time, the faith of the Christian religion might have progress. For before the Mosaic Law it was sufficient for someone to believe that there was one God, and that he was the rewarder of the good and punisher of the evil…
Analysis
These passages represent typical medieval Christian anti-Jewish polemical writing. The text:
- Presents Jewish objections to Christian doctrine (Trinity, Incarnation) in order to refute them
- Uses pejorative language (“nugantes” – trifling, talking nonsense) to characterize Christian belief from the Jewish perspective
- Argues for Christian supersessionism – the idea that Christianity has replaced Judaism
- Groups Jews with other non-Christians (Muslims, pagans) as theological opponents
- Employs proof-texting – using biblical passages to argue against Jewish positions
This work is part of the genre of Adversus Judaeos literature that was common in medieval Christianity, serving both to defend Christian doctrine and to argue for the conversion of Jews.
Source. Patrologia Latina – Translated by Claude.AI. Alan of Lille, De fide catholica contra haereticos. Migne, PL 210. 1855.