The account of St. Paul’s address on the Areopagus in Athens, found in the 17th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, is a sort of master class in the evangelization of the culture, and anyone engaged today in that essential task should read it with care. The context for Paul’s speech is his mission to Greece, which began when he crossed over from Asia Minor to the mainland of Europe.
As the great Catholic historian Christopher Dawson indicated, this transition of an itinerant Jewish preacher from one side of the Aegean to the other would not have excited the interest of commentators of the time, but nevertheless constituted one of the most decisive events in history, for it signaled the introduction of Christianity to Europe and, through Europe, to the rest of the world. A first lesson for us: the evangelist never rests, for the call of the Lord is to announce the Good News to the ends of earth.
After spending time in Macedonia, Philippi and Thessalonica, Paul eventually made his way south to Athens. Though his preaching in the north met with some success, it also stirred up fierce opposition. He was arrested and imprisoned in Philippi and chased aggressively out of Thessalonica by an angry mob. From the beginning up to today, Christian proclamation has been opposed and Christian preachers have braved danger.
But I want to emphasize the fact that Paul went to Athens, arguably the most important cultural center of the ancient Roman world. If Jesus’ great commission is to be honored, culture must be evangelized.
Upon arriving, Paul made a beeline to the synagogue, for his Good News is that God, in Christ Jesus, had fulfilled all of the promises He made to Israel. He knew Jews were in the best position to understand what he was talking about. We find here another crucial lesson for present-day evangelizers: do not forget the unbreakable connection between Jesus and the Jews. When we speak of Jesus in abstraction from Torah, temple, prophecy and covenant, He devolves rather rapidly into a mildly inspiring teacher of timeless truths. But when we announce Him as the climax of the story of Israel, our listeners’ hearts catch on fire.
Next Paul, went out “in the marketplace and spoke with those who happened to be there.” Sons and daughters of Israel might be those best disposed to accept Paul’s message, but the Gospel is meant for everyone. Thus, his evangelization was extravagant, indiscriminate, offered on the streets and from the rooftops, to anyone willing to listen. Ours should have a like character. I’ve always been a fan of street preaching – just getting up on a corner or on a soapbox and announcing Jesus. Will you be roundly mocked? Sure. But so was Paul. And in demonstration of the full extent of his outreach, we are told that Paul talked with some of the “Stoics and Epicureans” – the leading philosophical voices of that time and place. The evangelist must be, as Paul himself said, “all things to all people,” capable of speaking to the most ordinary and the most sophisticated.
When he arrived at the Areopagus – a rocky outcropping just below the Parthenon – Paul delivered a celebrated speech. In accord with the old rhetorical device of “captatio benevolentiae” (“capturing the good will of one’s audience”), Paul complimented the Athenians on their spirituality: “I see how extremely religious you are in every way.” There is more here, of course, than mere courtesy, for Paul is in fact appealing to what the Fathers of the Church would later call “logoi spermatikoi” (“seeds of the Word”) – hints, echoes and indications of the Logos that is fully disclosed in Christ. “For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’”
At the same time, Paul didn’t simply affirm the society he was addressing. Standing just below the Parthenon – the most impressive temple in the ancient world, which housed a massive sculpture of the goddess Athena – Paul announced, “The God who made the world and everything in it, He who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands.” That must have gotten their attention! There were indeed seeds of the word in the Athenian culture, but there were idolatrous practices and errant theologies as well. The canny evangelist, moving through the culture of his time, assimilates what he can and resists what he must. The dichotomy, so often invoked today, between being “open” to the culture or a “warrior” against it is too simplistic.
One might think that, in the wake of his magnificent address, Paul brought in boatloads of converts, but in fact the payoff was pretty slim: “When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed; but others said, ‘We will hear you again about this.’” Only a handful of people were willing to give Paul the benefit of the doubt – and yet, they were the seeds of the faith that would spread throughout the world.
Bishop Robert Barron is an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries.