Proclaiming the Kerygma in Athens: The Argument of Acts 17:16-34 in Light of the Epicurean and Stoic Debates about Piety and Divine Images in Early Post-Hellenistic Times

Monique Cuany seeks to answer two major questions which still divide and puzzle commentators with respect to the speech in Athens in Acts 17:16-34: What is the relationship between the speech's main part and its 'Christian conclusion'? And what is the relationship between the speech's message and Greek philosophy? Through an in-depth analysis of the religious and philosophical context alluded to in Acts 17 and a careful verse by verse examination of the speech, the author proposes a new answer to both of these questions. She suggests that the so-called Christian appendix, which has long seemed totally disconnected from the rest of the speech and lacking historical verisimilitude in light of the audience depicted by the narrative, is actually the climax of the argument of the speech and would have been more easily understood by a Greek audience than has been thought in the past.