Well, this post has nothing to do with Greco-Roman allusions, nor competitive acculturation, but I had to make a comment at how awestruck I was today on Day 4 of the North Park travel course to Greece. Today I was standing on top of Mar’s Hill (literally “Ares’ [the god of war] hill” in Greek: Ἀρείου πάγος; Act 17:22) and my colleague Klyne Snodgrass asks one of our students to read Paul’s sermon on the Areopagus to the Epicureans and Stoics. When we get to verse 24 (“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”), I and everyone else there were just blown away.
From the Areopagus, you can clearly see the Temple of Nike and the Parthenon which houses the Temple of Athena on top of the acropolis. If I use my mind’s imagination, I can picture the Apostle Paul preaching to the Epicureans and Stoics and pointing to the shrines on the acropolis saying: “God, the one true God, he does not dwell in temples made by human hands. I’m here to tell you about the true nature of God in the person of Jesus Christ…”
It was truly a holy moment! Klyne had this experience years before on an earlier trip, and I’m so thankful he shared this with us today.
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