Acts 17:22-31
Continuing in Acts this week, we find Paul preaching to the intellectual elite in Athens. The rhetorical strategy in this sermon is worth reflecting on. First, he appeals to a point of connection, noting that they are religious and worship an “unnamed God.” When he describes the unnamed God, he uses philosophy they would recognize and admire, even quoting one of their poets. Basically, Paul is speaking “elitism,” showing them that he is fluent in their epistemological discourses. This is clearly a way to gain credibility with the crowd and secure their attention, but he doesn’t continue pandering to them. He uses his connection and credibility to unsettle their worldview, calling them to repentance in anticipation of the arrival of the person God has appointed to judge justly… a person their justice system had recently condemned. Finally, he up-ends their expectations by saying that the “proof” of this is God raising this man from the dead.
That last statement would be shocking to them, because resurrection was not something the Greco-Roman educated elites hoped for. It was the hope of the uneducated masses and oppressed Jews, and represented a perspective that the intellectuals would deride as utopian, magical thinking. Resurrection was not an epistemological proof this audience would have recognized. Paul begins by wooing them, but quickly makes it clear that he is more interested in the kind of justice the oppressed hope for than their disembodied philosophies. His imagination is not fettered by their rationalism or pragmatism. His knowledge has been transformed and freed by the vision of a condemned, executed man vindicated and raised by the God who defines all reality and upholds all existence. There is no justice beyond God’s judgment, which is entrusted to a criminal.
Abolitionists need to walk this kind of line as well. Even as we familiarize ourselves with the most current research, we cannot be afraid to look foolish. We must engage the intellectual elites. We must engage the pragmatists and rationalists. Yet we also cannot allow that to keep us from boldly proclaiming the gospel of the resurrection of an executed criminal, a man who will come in power and overturn the state’s version of “justice.” Abolitionists pay attention to the insights that can be gained from science, philosophy, and secular academic institutions, but we first and foremost give attention to the hopes, dreams, and knowledge of the people languishing in prisons and poverty.
Sarah Lynne Gershon (she/her) is an MDiv/MTS student, DOC pastor, and lives at the Bloomington Catholic Worker.