Acts 17:16-34

As was the usual custom, Paul first taught in the Jewish synagogues upon his arrival in Athens. From there, he also taught in the marketplace where he came across some interesting people. Luke tells us that Paul had become “distressed” about the number and magnitude of “idols” in the city, for in the first century, Athens had become a center of art and philosophy; it was no longer a political center as it had been in centuries past, thus aspiring artists and philosophers traveled there to seek their destinies from all over the region.

While in the marketplace, he came to discuss his new ideas with Epicureans and Stoics who disputed both Paul and each other, as was their custom, but we should note that their disputations were collegial rather than hostile, which quite frankly is the key to understanding this text, particularly because in our time, collegial…