According to Luke’s narrative (At 17,16-34), St Paul the Apostle meets with the representatives of the ancient philosophical schools at the Areopagus of Athens. He comes to them with a new thesis, something they never heard of before. In compliance with the rhetorical rules, his speech starts from tracing the possible similarities between what he intends to present and the knowledge the listeners already possess.
This knowledge becomes the subject of his predication. What is it? Ἄγνωστος Θεός. An unknown god, “that you worship in ignorance, this I announce to you”.
What you have been worshiping intuitively, I am going to talk to you about. This is the god, whom you perceived by the intellectual intuition, but I have come to know in clarity by His grace. I have seen Him and my life is a testimony. In fact, if it wasn’t for Him, I wouldn’t stand here like a fool (Paul had problems with public speaking, so very probably he wasn’t estimating his rhetoric abilities highly).
What happens here is the debate about the nature of divinity – who is God. Paul destroys not the emotional but the intellectual barrier between the two positions: his and that of the pagan listeners. In fact, the emotional one did not go away – “some mocked him: and others said, we will hear thee again of this matter”. It is to say, yeah, yeah, very curious, but we did not like (emotion) what you said and we have no wish to listen. However, what Paul did was enough for some men to “cleave unto him, and believe”. (At 17,34)
The conversion is not in the hands of the evangelizer, but of God. Otherwise any persuasion of a good preacher could be justly called nothing but brainwashing and manipulation. The main job of the one who is appointed for the evangelizing activity is to help remove barriers between the “unknown god” that is already there and the Revelation.
This is the tusk that implies two types of theological skills working together. The ability to talk about God in two ways. Inside the Bible and ouside of it. To connect Revelation to the knowledge of God in the world that 1) has never known any God of Israel or/and 2) is not sure there is any interest in knowing this Guy. To connect the idea of God to the self-revelation of God.
The exciting (though at times tiresome) work of building bridges between the two starts with one basic assumption - people who know nothing about God, nothing at all, do not exist. It is in the human nature to think of Him.
It is impossible, as a human, to act consciously in the world without either accepting some concept of one god, divinizing undivine things (including such subtle forms as extracting one thing in the world that holds motivational priority at expense of other things) or falling into depression or some sort of mental confusion.
Three options only. A person comes to one of the conclusions and makes choice to believe it and act accordingly. Choices are inevitably made and our own nature is that very condition that forces us to make them. The unknown god and our desire for worship is always in us.
It can be more or less “unknown” or disguised god, that’s true. Had Paul come to preach in our world today, he would have been astonished at what his historical meeting at the Areopagus has produced. The Western civilization, in course of its development, has created many graven ideological images hard (but not impossible) to tackle. Today the situation is much more confused than in any pagan town of the I century. The contemporary society has come back to an even more primitive, less conscious and truly archaic worship of the Mother Earth.
The worship of the producing Materia and the impulses of the flesh that She legitimizes. The impulses that take their origin in Her absolute authority and, therefore, are holy and a priori justified in any expression. The Mother Earth worshippers live in a unidimensional world with spirit completely dominated by Her power to devour, give birth and control the children.
The dust from which, as Genesis puts it, the man was formed, has become more alive than the one who was shaped from it. According to the new dogma, Materia is able to shape itself and blessed are those who manage to rebel a little bit before they die, for it is the only freedom they are allowed. To reshape the flesh a little, to paint it a nice color of preference – in one word, to participate in creation of it. Because to create is to make. To make visible changes. To be is to be the shape you want to be, to use the body as you want. Because there is nothing but body.
The dust graciously allows it, for it knows that its monarchy is in no way threatened by any rearrangement of the flesh. Changing sex is nothing. What She hates is poetry, beauty and any sophisticated moves of the soul that tries to rise up and observe her real from above. The eternity and everything that evokes it – from too much silence to too much interest in classical literature - is a threat to Her. The dreaming She cannot stand, as well as the absolute values. Anything that transcends her power is forbidden in Her kingdom. Even worst – it is mocked, made fun of, debased or, if it is hard to do, murdered and thrown away, tagged as an anachronism.
The transcendence nowadays is a privilege of those who have the audacity to rebel against the great Mother Earth. This would be too much even for Paul. Sadly, this is what the newborn XXI century clergy will have to face (or already facing).
Yet – the aforementioned assumption is still true today. Why? Because it is an eternal anthropological truth - people who know nothing about God, nothing at all, do not exist. The barriers that need to be removed today are multiple and different. From century to century they mutate like viruses, but are substantially similar in structure. The virus may become stronger – it is not for that that the sickness becomes new health. A lie can become more and more intricate and hard to trace - yet it doesn't make it true.
There is a branch of theology that studies the structures in which the ideas of God (an Absolute, a divinity) exist in human mind. It is called natural theology - that part of the discourse about God that starts where no names are mentioned yet.
It is the part of theology that studies the Unknown God.
Thus, whoever has audacity to talk about the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Jesus Christ, whose Kingdom is not of this world – he/she should very seriously consider starting his/her studies not from the Bible or Revealed Theology, but from the human nature.
To be a professional “field” theologian (either as an evangelizer, a priest or having any other ministry that involves Christian education) – today more than ever – is not to just know the Scripture well. It is a hard work that does requires multitasking, versatility and interest in the mystery of the human nature.
Today’s preaching theologian to some degree needs to be an anthropologist, an epistemologist, a culturologist, a philosopher, a psychologist, an ethicist. All that besides what is given for granted – a Christian, i.e. a person who searches to imitate Christ out of love for God and neighbor.
Every sermon is a sermon at an Areopagus. There will always be an unknown god in our hearts that needs to be revealed (again and again) as God who not only has name and face, but also body and blood.
