Stoicism and Paul’s New God
In a previous post I related the story of Paul’s trip to Athens as told in Chapter 17 of “The Acts of the Apostles” (or in Greek, Praxeis Apostolon). The book was written somewhere between 80 and 90 of the Common Era. Paul appears to have travelled to Athens sometime around 51 CE. Here is how the story goes in Acts:
While Paul was waiting for them (Silas and Timothy) in Athens, he was deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and also in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. Also some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated with him. Some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign divinities.” (This was because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) So they took him and brought him to the Areopagus and asked him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? It sounds rather strange to us, so we would like to know what it means.” Now all the Athenians and the foreigners living there would spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new. (17:16–21 NRSV)
Last week I discussed what the Epicureans of the day thought. This week, the Stoics.
Stoicism had been a major school of philosophy for about three hundred years when Paul…
