Paul’s Encounter with Hellenism: The Foundation of Christian Apologia

How should believers converse with unbelievers? What sorts of things should believers say or have ready when approaching criticisms of their faith?

The discipline under Christian theology known as “apologetics” pertains to the defense and presentation of the claims of Christianity and their verisimilitude. When asking ourselves about procedure, arguments, methods, presentations and exhortations on matters of evangelism with unbelievers, apologetics is typically the discipline with which we are referring.

Historically, “apologetics” as a discipline within Christian theology wasn’t prevalent among a dominant portion of historical Christianity. The emergence of a discipline with distinctions and provisions as an area of inquiry didn’t arise until the mid to late 17th century, whereby post-scientific revolution approaches to cosmology and knowledge provided obstructions and new criticisms against the Christian worldview.

These obstructions began to twaddle around the advent of René Descartes and his methodological doubt, which Ed Feser has called the “greatest [philosophical] mistake of the modern era.” The consequence of this methodical doubt paved the way of the empiricism/rationalism divide that proceeded, miserably, into the Enlightenment.

There are two major historical periods whereby we could look at the practice of an apologia for the Christian faith taking place.  The first major period pertains to the first several hundred years of the advent of Jesus Christ, where “defenses” and “presentations” of the Christian religion emerged to respond to charges of paganism and persecution.

The second major period pertains to the Church’s reaction towards Deism, the shifts in “natural revelation” and the developing philosophical-scientific attitudes in the post-scientific revolution era. One of the biggest exponents of this knowledge of God by way of natural revelation was William Paley’s Natural Theology (1802).

The first however is one of significant historical exposition for the Christian. One of the greatest examples of the Christian’s response to “injustice” amidst persecution was Justin Martyr’s First Apology (155 A.D.?). Justin Martyr was a young convert from Roman paganism to Christianity. In the early account of his life, he had ventured from Stoicism to Pythagoreanism, Aristotelianism and then to Platonism.

It wasn’t until Justin had met an older Christian (perhaps Syrian) who was able to fill in the missing metaphysical and theological details of his worldview. According to chapter VIII of Justin’s Dialogue with Trypho, Justin speaks of his reaction towards this conversation with the “Christian”:

“When he had spoken these and many other things, which there is no time for mentioning at present, he went away, bidding me attend to them; and I have not seen him since. But straightway a flame was kindled in my soul; and a love of the prophets, and of those men who are friends of Christ, possessed me; and whilst revolving his words in my mind, I found this philosophy alone to be safe and profitable. Thus, and for this reason, I am a philosopher.” [1]

Despite this “awakening flame,” Justin proceeds to mention his disposition towards his new perspective on life: “Moreover, I would wish that all, making a resolution similar to my own, do not keep themselves away from the words of the Saviour. . . If, then, you have any concern for yourself, and if you are eagerly looking for salvation, and if you believe in God, you may–since you are not indifferent to the matter — become acquainted with the Christ of God, and, after being initiated, live a happy life.” [2]

As we proceed in this post I hope to draw on an important biblical instance that serves as the foundation of apologia procedure. The cross is the foundation and motivation for evangelism, however, all the while we are not gifted with the contemporaneousness with the Cross of Calvary, we must look elsewhere for precise instruction and direction.

 

Acts 17: Paul’s Encounter with the Philosophers at Athens

There are a few things one needs to understand about the historical setting of Athens. Some scholars have rightly dubbed Athens, Greece as the intellectual “hot-bed” of the ancient world. Around 50 A.D. when Paul would have showed up to the Areopagus – an ancient hill near Agora (the market-place) – this functioned as the epi-center for some of the world’s greatest artists, poets and philosophers.

According to the verse 21, “All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas” (NIV).

As verse 16 rightfully begins: “While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.” This distressing is what causes the impulse in Paul to approach Athens, to “reason in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks,” (v. 17). He also did this, “day by day to those who happened to be there.”

I think this should serve as the “primordial intellectual disposition” towards unbelief. What does that mean? In our pursuit of wisdom – or better put, in our pursuit of God Who possesses True Wisdom – we are moved (not challenged per se) by our counterparts intellectual rebellion to God. This is a “disposition” in the sense that it should be the inherent qualities of a Christian in their mind and character.

This disposition is both “primordial” in the sense that it should be our beginning, and “intellectual” in the sense that all this relates primarily to the life of the mind (cf. Rom. 8:1). Of course, our motivation is not merely to convince sinners of arguments. Surely while we demolish arguments (2 Cor. 10:5) and offer reasons for the hope within (1 Peter 3:15), we do so for the purposes of conforming them to Christ (cf. 2 Cor 10:5).

This is why we see evidences of Paul’s expansive knowledge of Greek philosophy to communicate a relatable but alternative vision of Being. Precisely, a background familiarity of the writings of the Roman stoic poet Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BC – 65 AD) – Seneca, for short – and of the Greek didactic poet Aratus (315 BC – 240 BC) served as Paul’s demonstration for his familiarity of – what he might consider – a “limited divination of being” worshiped among the Greeks.

This is evidenced by the place of his birth, Tarsus, which was a stronghold of Stoic philosophy. According to D. A. Hayes’ (1863-1936) little book Paul and His Epistles (1915), consider some of the following passages:

• Paul said: “Neither is God served by men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.”
• Seneca agrees, “God wants not ministers. How so? He Himself ministereth to the human race.”
• Paul said: “God made of one every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth.”
• Seneca wrote, “We are members of a vast body. Nature made us kin, when she produced us from the same things and to the same ends.”
• Paul said, “God is not far from each one of us; for in him we live, and move, and have our being.”
• Seneca wrote, “God is at hand everywhere and to all men.”
• Paul also had the Cretan philosopher Epimenides in mind here (“For in him. . .”).
• Paul said, “For we are also his offspring. . . Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think the godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone, graven by art or device of men.”
• Seneca wrote, “Thou shalt not form him of silver and gold: a true likeness of God cannot be molded of this material.” [1]
• Paul also quoted the Greek poet Aratus (“We are his offspring”), and perhaps had the Hymn of Cleanthes in mind, another verse by a Stoic philosopher.
• Paul was making a distinction between the “Unknown God” he found in Athens (v. 23) to the nameable God who “made the world and everything in it” (v. 24). This is, as one scholar put it, “the noblest expression of the heathen devotion which Greek literature has preserved to us.”

One encounters the narrative described here in Acts 17 and yet probably recalls Paul later statement in his letter to church of Colosse: “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ” (NIV, Col. 2:8).

Why does Paul quote Roman and Greek philosophers – hence, displaying literary familiarity – only to later condemn hollow and deceptive philosophy?

Paul in this passage is specifically warning against the reigning gnosticism – a stillbirth version of Platonic-philosophy, so to speak – which permeated the church at Colosse at the time. Hence, even in the original Greek the verse contains a definite article, which refers to a particular kind of philosophy.

How can we see to it that no one takes us captive through deceptive philosophy if we are not already made aware of it? According to Norman Geisler,

A good counterfeit will be as close to the truth as possible. This is why false, non-Christian philosophies are dressed in Christian garbs are particularly dangerous. Indeed, the Christian most likely to fall prey to false philosophy is the ignorant Christian. 

 

The Lesson of Acts 17

There are several important things to draw from this passage. First, a message for those dubbed with title “Christian philosophers.”

Paul, at this point a recent convert from Pharisaical Judaism, was a highly educated and gifted orator. However, despite Paul’s great learning, you’ll notice several phrases pop up in different places. First look to Paul’s appearance before King Agrippa in Acts 26, where in the middle of his testimony, Festus interrupts Paul: “You are out of your mind, Paul! . . . Your great learning is driving you insane” (Acts 26:24, NIV).

Also you’ll notice in 2 Corinthians 11:23 where Paul is speaking of his veracity as Apostle of Jesus Christ: “But whatever anyone else dares to boast of – I am speaking as a fool – I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one – I am talking like a madman – with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death” (2 Corinthians 11:22-23, ESV).

Finally you’ll notice back in Acts 17 the response the philosophers gave to Paul’s preaching: “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean” (Acts 17:20, ESV).

We these passages in mind, you’ll notice that these passages are a kind of extended truth of what Paul mentions to the church at Corinth: “The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing” (1 Cor. 1:18, ESV). As intellectuals “of the public square” Christian philosophers need to keep a rigorous theological background (and practice) of the truths with which they are defending, presenting, or evaluating/judging.

As Christians, we acknowledge the unbelievers willful rebellion against God (cf. Romans 1-3, 1 Cor. 1). As philosophers (good ones anyway), we ought embroider this truth on our hearts without succinctly psychoanalyzing our opponents’ unbelief.

We can only speculate the reasons as to why someone rejects the God of Christianity – some reasons of the heart and some reasons of the mind – it is the job of a good philosopher (and/or apologist) however to “caress” these sensitivities of the divine within others and provide a possible route for consideration.

Paul does exactly this when he treads on the territory of the philosophers to whom he is addressing. While the “intellectual hot-bed” of Athens was gleaning from the greatest minds Greek Hellenism had to offer, Paul was right at the center by not only responding to them – but to the point of actually understanding and quoting pagan literature to demonstrate the Athenians theological inadequacy.

Therefore, this should be instruction for Christians not to necessarily to have a good grasp of Roman philosophy and Greek literature, but to see the importance – the real spiritual importance – of understanding and addressing our opponents as they are and where they are.

Notice the words of Jesus Christ in Matthew 11: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28, ESV). With philosophers preoccupations with metaphysics and the “science of being qua being,” approaching God as “being a se,” “the Divine Principle Logos,” and a multitude of divine designations, there nonetheless sit the words: “Come to me. . . and I will give you rest.”

St. Augustine echoed a similar statement some 1,500 years ago in his Confessions: “I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are wise and very beautiful; but I have never read in either of them: Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden.”

Good philosophers, good apologists and faithful Christians in general ought to understand the forwardness, the conceptual precision and theological richness of Jesus Christ amidst their worldview.

Of the sayings of our Savior on the cross, we have an admission to our enemies (“Father, forgive them. . .”), an admission to sinners (“Today you will be with me in paradise. . .”) and finally an admission to saints (“Woman, behold your Son. . .”). Our worldview is an inspired worldview, in that while yes there are specific passages, directions and admissions for certain areas of the human life there is also an aspect which ignites, fills, “builds up,” or inspires believers to act in accordance with what they have found to be true.

This is why early Christians did not tether under criticisms of “fantasy,” because they believed in the experience and testimony of the prophets speaking of the God-Man, Jesus Christ. As Justin Martyr exonerated in his First Apology to Roman emperor Antoninus Pius:

“We do not trust in mere hearsay, but are forced to believe those who prophesied [these things] before they happened, because we actually see things that have happened and are happening as predicted. This will, as we think, be the greatest and surest demonstration for you too.”

The First and Second Apology serve as one of the greatest classical texts in early Christian thought and apologia, spoken in the tone of a multi-talented intellectual and yet a faithful martyr. For yourselves, examine these texts and more; be diligent and ready in season. Avoid knowledge which “puffs up,” but in all things pursue love, “which builds up.”

 

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*The featured image to the above article was taken from http://thegoodheart.blogspot.com/2011/07/pauls-greek-adventure.html

*The featured image is Kennedy A. Paizs’ St. Paul Preaching at the Areopagus in Athens.

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Notes:

• [1] This passage was taken from http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/justinmartyr-dialoguetrypho.html
• [2] Ibid.