Contextualization Without Compromise: the uknown God in Acts 17
Acts 17, where Paul faces the Areopagus, is one of the "go-to" passages for anyone discussing contextualization. Paul walks into Athens, looks around, studies the culture, and then speaks directly into it. He quotes Greek poets and uses their own language. He meets them where they are—which is why this text must be held front and center in any cross-cultural dialogue. However, the one thing we cannot miss is what Paul selected from their culture to speak to them about Christ. Athens was full of gods. As he walked around the city, Paul saw them all. He seemingly examined every altar, every shrine, and every deity. Yet, he doesn’t pick a single one of them as his bridge to Christ. Not one. Think about that. Contextualization doesn’t mean finding what already looks like Jesus in a culture and saying, "See, you already have this." If that were the case, Paul had so many options that it would have been hard to pick just one. But that is not what he does. He doesn’t lo...
