One of my favorite songs begins like this: "We're more than carbon and chemicals, We are the image of the invisible!"
In a religion class I am taking, we read Acts 17. Paul, being the total tough guy he was, went to one of the cultural centers of the Roman empire: Athens. During the time of his visit, Athens was in decline. The people of Athens were doing what they could to restore the city to its former glory. They still used the structures which had been built in centuries previous. Among them was the marketplace. This was a place where people could go an share new ideas. This is where Paul went to preach the relatively new doctrine of Christ.
Paul was met by a people altogether different than the Jews. The people of Athens supported many doctrines. The doctrines of the Epicureans and the Stoics. The Epicurean Doctrine was that the earth was created by chance and that the point of life was to avoid pain, and to find as many pleasurable experiences as possible. The Stoic view was that God created the world, and that trying to change your lot in life is pointless. The people of Athens also had built a shrine to the unknown god.
Paul had minimal success with the people of Athens, but his effort was not wasted. There were a few converts and those people did receive some attention in later epistles.
The real point of Acts 17 is the manner in which he preaches. He uses references to local landmarks, texts of the Stoics, and used the argumentative style that was popular in that area. What is more important than that, however, is the fact that he stuck to his principles. Despite the fact that he was surrounded by varying doctrines and popular opinions, he told the people of Athens the truth of the gospel. In a manner which they could understand.
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