Paul's presence in Athens puts him at the heart of pagan intellectualism. There at the home of Plato, where highbrow philosophical debate is common marketplace chatter, Paul is but one voice among a host of competing ideologies. Two of the more popular philosophical schools of thought there are Epicureanism and Stoicism, whose devotees held very different views of the world.

Aware of his audience's preferences and prejudices, Paul begins his address at the Areopagus by praising his hearers for their spiritual curiosity and their wide-ranging search for religious truth. The closest they have arrived, Paul asserts, is in their altar "to an unknown God" (v.23). Paul connects with pagan culture in order to obtain the crowd's attention. He doesn't denounce their faith journey, but builds on it.…