St. Paul made his way to Athens, the center of intellectual life in the ancient world. Athens was Harvard and Oxford rolled into one. Apparently St. Paul thought he needed to dazzle the Athenians with his brilliance. (I think of this as his Fredo moment — “I’m smart.”) He quoted the philosophers, the poets, the movers and shakers of Athenian culture to convince them of the truth of Christianity. His preaching was not successful. No Christian community formed in Athens. There is no Epistle to the Athenians. The Acts of the Apostles says that Paul went to Corinth after Athens and there had great success. In his first epistle to the Corinthians Paul writes that when he went there he resolved “to preach nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified.” Paul learned a lesson we need to take to heart today. The way to invite people into the faith is not with superior argument or catechetical clarity. Rather, faith comes with an encounter with Christ and the love he showed for us on the cross.
MAY282025
By Church Staff
