Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

UNKNOWN GOD, THE

Designation in an Athenian altar inscription “to the (or ‘an’) unknown god,” used by Paul as the text for his “Areopagus sermon” (Acts 17:22-31). Paul took this inscription as indication of Athenian religiosity, and on that basis preached the Christian gospel to them, refuting their earlier charge that he was introducing new deities (Acts 17:18). While ancient writers (Pausanias, Philostratus, Tertullian, Jerome) attest to the Athenian concern over omission of any unknown gods from their religious devotions, there is no evidence outside Acts for any altar to an unknown god. The historicity of the inscription and sermon is therefore subject to scholarly debate. Scholars agree, however, that both accurately reflect the religious climate of the 1st-century c.e. Hellenistic world. The inscription should not suggest any nascent gnostic or monotheistic notions.

Bibliography. H. Conzelmann, “The Address of Paul on the Areopagus,” in Studies in Luke-Acts, ed. L. E. Keck and J. L. Martyn (1966, repr. Philadelphia, 1980), 217-30.

Christopher Scott Langton

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

UNKNOWN GOD, THE

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)