Against Celsus 4.52

Next after this, picking out from all the writings that contain allegories and expositions in no contemptible style the one that is simpler, which can contribute something to the faith of the many and simpler people but cannot move the more intelligent, he says: “Such, for instance, is a certain dispute between one Papiscus and Jason which I came across, worthy not of laughter but rather of pity and hatred. It is not my task to refute these things; for they are surely clear to everyone, especially if one has the patience to endure listening to the writings themselves. But I want rather to teach this about nature: that God made nothing mortal, but the works of God are all that are immortal, and mortal things are theirs. And the soul is the work of God, but the nature of the body is different. And in this respect the body of a bat, or a worm, or a frog, or a man will not differ; for the matter is the same, and their corruptibility is alike.” Nonetheless I would want everyone who hears Celsus speaking vehemently and saying that the writing entitled the Dispute of Jason and Papiscus about Christ is worthy not of laughter but of hatred, to take the little work in his hands and have the patience to endure hearing what is in it, so that he may at once condemn Celsus, finding nothing worthy of hatred in the book. And if anyone reads it impartially, he will find that the book does not even move one to laughter; in it a Christian is recorded arguing with a Jew from the Jewish Scriptures and showing that the prophecies about Christ fit Jesus, although the other, in the person of the Jew, stands against the argument not ignobly or unfittingly.