not mighty and great in Himself—is a greater imperfection than describing Him as encompassing in a way that entails His encompassing all existing things.

[The fifth response]

It may be said: Granted that the world is spherical, why do you say that if He is above the world, He must be beneath some part of it? This follows only if He is supposed to encompass the entire world from every direction. If, however, He is supposed to be above the world on this side, where animals, plants, and minerals are found, it does not follow that He is beneath the world on the other side. If we were to suppose two created things, one spherical and the other above it without encompassing it—as when a person places a chickpea or a hazelnut beneath his foot—it would not follow that what is above the spherical object is in any respect beneath it.

If it is said, “What surrounds a spherical body, such as the ninth celestial sphere surrounding the earth, is above it on every side,” the response is: It is above what lies within the spherical body, but not above what lies above that body. Rather, both the surrounding sphere and everything within it are entirely beneath that higher thing, just as the chickpea and the hazelnut are beneath the foot placed upon them.

This is further clarified by the fact that the centre of the celestial sphere is its absolute lowest point, and the sphere is above it on every side. If we suppose something above the celestial sphere, on the side facing the region inhabited by created beings, which is higher than the sphere on this side, without encompassing it or having the world’s centre as its own centre, then it cannot be beneath anything in the world. Rather, it is certainly above the celestial spheres on this side, and is not beneath them on the other side. It follows that it is above them, not beneath them.