Probably the most famous of all Greek cities from the 5th-4th Cent BC onwards, Athens was also the most famous of the three university cities (Tarsus and Alexandria were the others) in the ancient world. It was home to Plato and Aristotle and a host of other dramatists and philosophers. Though Luke's observation that "all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas" (Acts 17:21) may be overstating the matter somewhat, ideas seem to have constituted the theme of life in ancient Athens.
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Paul visited Athens during his Second Missionary Journey just before he went on to Corinth (Acts 17:16-18:1). There he taught in the synagogue and even in the Areopagus and, though Luke records that "a few men became followers of Paul" (17:34), no church seems to have been planted in the city at that time.
Resources:
John Stott, "Paul Addressing Philoshophers in Athens." 54.21. Second of three addresses delivered at the Evangelical Ministry Assembly, 1990. ProclamationTrust. Audio N (Open on Phone)
J. Daryl Charles, "Engaging the (Neo)Pagan Mind: Paul's Encounter with Athenian Culture as a Model for Cultural Apologetics (Acts 17:16-34)," Trinity Journal 16.1 (1995): 47-62.
Patrick Gray, "Implied Audiences in the Areopagus Narrative," Tyndale Bulletin 55.2 (2004): 205-218.
John Proctor, "The Gospel from Athens: Paul's Speech before the Areopagus and the Evangel for Today," Evangel 10:3 (1992): 69-72
Ned B. Stonehouse, The Areopagus Address. London: The Tyndale Press, 1948. Pbk. pp.48
Bruce W. Winter, "On Introducing Gods to Athens: An Alternative Reading of Actrs 17:18-20," Tyndale Bulletin 47.1 (1996) 71-90.
Bruce M. Winter, "Introducing the Athenians to God: Paul's Failed Apologetic in Acts 17?" Themelios 31.1 (October 2005): 38-59.
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