For the first time in a LONG time, Paul left a city because he felt like it, not because he was being chased out (although we are left to wonder whether that meeting with the Areopagus Council wasn’t the catalyst to his decision to move on). Not many people in Athens were receptive to Paul’s…
This week we studied the beginning of Paul’s sermon at the Areopagus (beyond verse 22)! Paul seized the opportunity to tell the Athenians and Areopagus Council about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in terms they would understand. His prop was an altar to an “unknown god,” and Paul used that as his jumping…
This week we read through Paul’s speech at the Areopagus, and although I thought we were going to discuss more of it, we basically made it through one verse. It’s not my fault! ? We discussed the different translations of a rare Greek word in Acts 17:22 “deisidaimonesterous” (lit: δεισιδαιμονεστέρους). Was Paul following the classical…
This week we summed up the previous weeks’ (and months’) lessons about Athens, the Areopagus, Aeschylus’ play “The Oresteia,” Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, and Zeno. We also discussed Paul’s broad education in Tarsus and Jerusalem, and how his travels informed his discussion in Athens. We had a great discussion about everything from classical Greek philosophy,…