Especially for Older Students: Picturing Athens

(10 minutes, easy set-up)
Students will look up photos and illustrations to get a visual picture of the place where Paul delivered his sermon in Athens.
Provide a dry erase board and markers.

Learning Goal: Students will discover that God has always existed and needs nothing.

Read Acts 17:24-25. Explain that Paul’s words can be best understood when we look at the actual location his sermon took place. On the board, write the following: the Areopagus; the Acropolis in Athens, Greece; the Parthenon. Divide students into groups of at least 3 (you’ll want three smart phones in each group if possible). Instruct students to use their smart phones and to look up photos on the web of the locations you’ve written on the board. Encourage students to work together so they’ll be able to view all three locations at one time.

While students work, erase the board and draw a simple map that shows the layout of the Areopagus, the Acropolis, and the Parthenon. (Note: One such illustration can be found by doing a Google search of all three sources. At the time of printing, one could be found at https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=zFZKnXfG43X8.kN8Tqmzxa1os&hl=en.) After a minute or so, call attention to the layout you’ve drawn on the board and help students visualize how the three pictures they discovered relate to each other geographically.

Make sure they grasp these conditions:

The Areopagus is a large rock outcropping that sits above the city of Athens, but below the Acropolis.
The Acropolis is a large, steep hill that stands above the city of Athens and still has the remains of multiple temples to the Greek gods.
The Parthenon sits atop the Acropolis, near the side of the hill on which the Areopagus is located, and was a temple to the god Athena.

Encourage students to look at the pictures again, and ask: What did Paul see as he preached? (He overlooked the city and the marketplace, and he could see the Acropolis with multiple temples, including the Parthenon above where he stood.) Ask: How do you think those who had worshipped for their entire lives in these great temples on the Acropolis might have felt when Paul told them they were ignorant of the true God? That God didn’t need these temples they used for worship? What does Paul’s words demonstrate about the way he preached the gospel?