Likely if you have read critical commentaries on this passage before reading this essay, you have been overwhelmed with the number of complex, critical issues involved with interpreting this passage:

• the ambiguity of what is meant by Paul being led away to the Areopagus;
• the ancient stereotypes of Athens generally and Epicureans and Stoics specifically;
• the hints of the characterization of Paul echoing that of Socrates;
• the way polytheism functioned in the ancient Mediterranean world;
• Luke’s use of philosophical concepts, jargon, and quotes of the day that are foreign to us;
• the similarities and differences of Paul’s speech to the other speeches in Acts;
• Luke’s manner of shaping Paul’s speech using rhetorical formulations of his day;
• and the relation of Paul’s approach here to the presentation of the historical Paul and his proclamation in his letters.

Getting a handle on these interpretive conundrums will help the preacher appreciate the great skill Luke used in crafting this scene and bring that same sort of skill to presenting the scene for a contemporary congregation. In as short as an essay as this one, however, we cannot touch on all these ...