For the source text click/tap here: Avodah Zarah 54
To download, click/tap here: PDF
Our Gemara relates:
Philosophers asked the Jewish Sages in Rome, “If your God has no desire for idolatry, why does He not abolish it?”
They replied, “If it was something of which the world has no need that was worshipped, He would abolish it; but people worship the sun, moon, stars and planets; should He destroy the universe on account of fools? The world pursues its natural course, and as for the fools who act wrongly, they will have to render an account.
The “philosophers” who engaged the Sages in conversation – both in Rome and in Greece – did not truly believe in pagan gods as divine. Nevertheless, since they lived in cultures that were steeped in avoda zara, they did consider the possibility that there was some measure of truth in it.
The conversation/debates that we find recorded were part of an attempt to ascertain the truth of the matter by means of engagement with the Jewish Sages.
The remarkable parables allows us to explore hidden theologies embedded in the fictional narratives as a literary tool.