Greece: Day 6

We are leaving Athens and heading to Crete this afternoon, so I got one last run in this morning.  I was able to take in Hadrian’s Arch, the Acropolis, and the Aeropagus one more time.  I spoke with Christos about the meaning of the Aeropagus.  The word means the place “pagus” of Ares “the god of war”, and it was where 9 judges sat to rule on various disputes in the ancient world.  In time, the judges were replaced by a jury of the people, and Aereopagus became a place where people gathered to discuss various issues.

Enter the apostle Paul in the early part of the first century. It is on the Aeropagus that he speaks with Athenians about the gospel of Jesus the Christ and is able to convert a few. The Acropolis dwarfs the Aeropagus, and it is easy to see how Paul makes his argument about the various gods to whom the people offer sacrfice (Zeus’ temple and a temple to Athena, Poseidon, and others rest atop the Acropolis). The history at this time is critical to the effectiveness of Paul’s argument.


The Roman and Greek gods worshipped in antiquity are tied to the health of the state, and, as you know, the Roman empire is in slow decline. Therefore, there is a desire on the part of some people to find the right deity to save oneself and the nation. Furthermore, those talking to Paul on the Aeropagus are probably wealthy and educated Athenians. The fact that some of them convert is clearly important for the furthering of this fledgling tradition. And it is precisely because of the rich religious ferment of Greece that a tradition like Christianity could get a foothold.

Add to all of this that so much of the Christian tradition copies or furthers so many of the myths that went before, it is easy to see how people could accept it and convert. In fact, our visit to the Archaelogical Museum this morning bore this out. A small statue of the fertility goddess with a child (clearly the prototype for what would become the Madonna and child icons) is fascinating as it comes 1000 years before Jesus.


For some, this reality is too much to bear. It rationalizes and explains away the belief system and attraction of early Christianity.  However, far from explaining Christianity away, it gives an important context, while also holding out the meaning and import and critique of the existing systems that Christianity provided to early believers.  It helps us to be self-critical as well as to believe. We should never assume that what we have the whole truth and nothing but the truth. If history is any indicator, we have a window into the reality of the divine that still can and will surprise us, particularly when we are the most smug in our belief that we have answered all there is to answer.

The history of Greece is a wonderful example of this tension between wonder and awe to do great things and the hardness of heart or hubris that ends up destroying that which is beautiful and wonderful and such an inspiration. Humility is critical to the whole process and project.

We are on the high speed "boat" that will get us to Crete in 6 hours. The Aegean is beautiful and the many islands varied and interesting. It is amazing to think of the many ships that populated these waters and furthered the development of civilization millennia ago.


Go U.S. in tonight's soccer game!