The Areopagus address is frequently regarded as the classic example of how to communicate the gospel to a pagan, pluralistic culture. In this speech, Paul is preaching to gentiles with whom he can assume no knowledge of the Old Testament. This parallels our experience in post-Christian Western culture. He is in Athens, the philosophical capital of the ancient world, and is contending with the leading philosophical schools of the time. Making use of observations and quotations from the culture of Athens, Paul’s argument is well structured and is a pointed critique of the prevailing worldviews whilst also being a clear presentation of the distinctive features of a Christian worldview. I argue that Luke includes it in his account precisely because it is a model of how to present the gospel to a gentile audience. Paul’s speech has rightly attracted a lot of attention from contemporary Christian apologists who have read it as supportive of their differing approaches to apologetics. Some see Paul as in direct opposition to the prevailing philosophical schools, while others believe that he is building on Athenian philosophy to present his message. I argue that Paul does make use of Stoic philosophical arguments whilst also undermining and sharply criticising their worldview. My thesis is that Acts 17 serves as a model for contemporary apologetics in various ways. I show how Paul’s apologetic approach contextualises the message, legitimises the use of natural theology and the use of pagan citations in apologetics, and presents a Judeo-Christian worldview in contrast to the Athenian worldviews he was critiquing.

Christian theologians have not always fully understood and appreciated the Hebraic nature of the apologetic method that the Apostle Paul used in engaging the cultural milieu and philosophical worldviews of his time. The primary reason for misunderstanding can be traced to the fact that theologians, by and large, have employed Greek philosophical categories as lenses through which they have attempted to view and to ascertain the exact nature of the doctrinal content of the Pauline material. Because theologians have often fashioned these lenses from rigid and highly structured Greek philosophical categories of thinking, their resulting interpretations and doctrinal teachings of the Pauline material have suffered adverse effects. This paper seeks to elucidate the Hebraic elements in Paul's apologetic approach.

Der Artikel untersucht die Funktion der Verweise auf frühchristliche Berichte in der Apologie des Quadratus von Athen (ca. 117–125 n. Chr.) und im Brief des Dionysius von Korinth an die Athener (ca. 170 n. Chr.). Augenzeugenberichte über die Wunder Jesu und die Erzählung aus Apg 17 werden in diesen Texten zur defensiv und kon- struktiv angelegten Identitätsbildung verwendet, um der athenischen Kirche zu helfen, auf äußere Widerstände und die damit verbundenen Probleme zu reagieren. Die Analyse dieser Texte erlaubt außerdem einen Einblick in die Veränderungen, die die athenische Kirche im 2. Jahrhundert erlebt hat. This article explores the function of references to early Christian accounts in the Apology of Quadratus of Athens (c. 117–125CE) and Dionysius of Corinth’s letter to the Athenians (c. 170s CE). Eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ miracles and the Acts 17 narrative are utilised in these texts for defensive and constructive identity formation to help the Athenian church to respond to external opposition and the problems it caused for the Christian community. The analysis of these texts also allows some insight into the transition the Athenian church went through in the second century CE.

Long recognized as a literary fiction, the Epistle of Aristeas has variously been dated from the 3rd cent. BCE to the 1st cent. CE. As a result, its epistolary features, and especially those in which the putative author, Aristeas, addresses his brother and correspondent, Philocrates, have largely been ignored. At the same time, the ostensible occasion of the work, an account of the translation of the Jewish scriptures into Greek at the behest of Ptolemy II and Diogenes of Phalerum, has been treated as its sole import, even though the story of the translation itself is only a small part of the text. In light of more recent scholarship on epistolary literature in the Greco-Roman world, however, this paper will argue that, though fictional, a highly stylized epistolarity is central to the form, purpose, and setting of the work. It will argue further that the ideals of Hellenistic moral philosophy, delivered through epistolary exhortation as well as sympotic discourse, function as an apologetic for both Jewish tradition and the Septuagint translation as instantiations of the Mosaic Law.

In Acts 17:34, Luke records a group of Athenians that "believed" in response to Paul's ministry in the city, a group including two named individuals-Dionysius the Areopagite and Damaris-and "others with them." This paper will discuss these first Christ-followers of Athens in light of literary and material evidence pertinent to Athens, Luke's broader practice of recording individuals and groups, and recent scholarship on early Christian groups in other cities in order to draw some inferences about the earliest Christian community in Athens. It will be suggested that Dionysius and Damaris were "benefactors" who offered hospitality to the nascent Christ-group, a community of 20-50 individuals which could have, in the first instance, been centred in the urban deme of Melite - an area with a mixed population of wealthy Athenians and foreign tradespeople.

My argument is that Philostratus drew on the Christian gospels and acts to construct a narrative in which Apollonius both resembled and transcended Jesus and the Apostles. In the first chapter, I review earlier scholarship on this question from the time of Eusebius of Caesarea to the present. In the second chapter, I explore the context in which Philostratus wrote the VA, focusing on the Severan dynasty, the Second Sophistic, and the struggle for cultural supremacy between Pagans and Christians. In the third chapter, I turn to the text of the VA and the Christian gospels and acts. I point out specific literary parallels, maintaining that some cannot be explained by shared genre. I also suggest that the association of the Egyptian god Proteus with both Philostratus's Apollonius and Jesus/Christians is further evidence for regarding VA as a polemical response to the Christians. In my concluding chapter, I tie the several strands of my argument together to show how they collectivel...

The message of the apostle Paul that “all are now justified through faith” has resulted in diverse interpretations over the centuries. Questions have been raised concerning the negative evaluation of the law, the importance of works, and the nature of faith in Paul’s letters. The traditional Lutheran interpretation, which focuses on the individual sinner being declared righteous for free, has been heavily challenged by the so-called New Perspective that emphasizes the universal application of this justice. Philosopher Alain Badiou has recently chipped in by labeling Paul “an antiphilosophical theoretician of universality.” This article contributes to the debate by viewing “justification by faith,” or rather δικ- and πιστ-language, against Greco-Roman discourses, concepts and semantics of the time. It will be shown that precisely Paul’s philosophical contemporaries offer proof for such a universalistic agenda. Greco-Roman “metahistorical,” grand narratives show a widespread belief in an initial golden age of divine rule, followed by a period of retreat of virtues and moral decline, and sometimes including utopian, universalistic visions of a return of the days of faith and justice. A similar metahistorical discourse can be discerned in Romans, where Paul announces the renewed disclosure of divine justice against the background of the gentiles’ collective godforsakenness and unrighteousness. At the same time, semantic research confirms the proximity of justice and faith as virtues of high regard in Greco-Roman sources. This ethical approach to justice is further developed by the platonic concept of an internal law, identified as a divinely given “mind” or “measure.” In Romans, these findings resonate with the moral reform of the mind according to the “measure of faith.” Hence, Pauline justice is argued to be deeply universal, ethical and participational in nature.