groping toward the divine was hazy: “I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you” (Acts 17:23). Paul then quotes pagan poetry: “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’” (Acts 17:28). Close parallels to these lines are found in several ancient literary sources, which means Paul was tapping into assumptions that were widespread at the time. He was willing to appeal to the valid intuitions and insights of his Greek audience, even
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