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, drama, and polytheism to Paul’s broad education and monotheism to giving a great elevator pitch. It was all over the place, and yet, somehow, it all tied in together. The key point was that some Athenians heard Paul’s preaching about Jesus and the “Resurrection” as two different gods: (1) Jesus and (2) Anastasis (Resurrection) which prompted them to bring him to the Areopagus for a formal presentation of this “new religion.”
>> Click to read this week’s passages in KJV, CSB, ESV, NIV: Acts 17:16-21 <<
Acts 17:16-21 ~ Setting of Paul’s Speech (Summary)
We sum up our previous lessons on many topics based in and around Athens.
* Recorded: LIVE. This audio has been HEAVILY REDACTED for class member privacy, time, and content
Additional Resources:
Whiteboard:
Links to resources about the Areopagus and other topics discussed during the lesson:
- Foreign but Familiar Gods: Greco-Romans Read Religion in Acts by Lynn Allan Kauppi (Chapter 5: “Acts 17:16-34 and Aeschylus’ Eumenides)
Read the excerpt on Google: http://bit.ly/kauppi-excerpt - “Paul’s sermon on the Areopagus inspired by the Muses” by Neil Godfrey
https://vridar.org/2011/09/14/pauls-sermon-on-the-areopagus-inspired-by-the-muses/ - “Paul and Orestes before the Areopagus: The Resurrection” by Neil Godfrey
https://vridar.org/2011/09/16/paul-and-orestes-before-the-areopagus-the-resurrection/ - “Acts, the Areopagus and the Introduction of New Gods” by Neil Godfrey
https://vridar.org/2011/09/17/acts-the-areopagus-and-the-introduction-of-new-gods/ - Aeschylus’ three-part drama “Oresteia,”
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oresteia&oldid=920837009 - Altar to an unknown god: “Si Deus Si Dea,”
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Si_deus_si_dea&oldid=880122821 - “Epicureanism and Stoicism: Lessons, Similarities and Differences.” Daily Stoic, 11 Apr. 2018,
dailystoic.com/epicureanism-stoicism/. - Part 2 of the PowerPoint is provided by FreeBibleImages.com http://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/athens/
