17:18 philosophers. This is one of the only two specific references in the Bible to “philosophy,” the other being Colossians 2:8. Both have strongly negative emphases, warning against philosophy—that is, the love of human wisdom.

17:18 Stoicks. Like all other Greek and Roman philosophies of the day, Epicureanism and Stoicism were based on an evolutionary worldview. The Epicureans were essentially atheists, like modern Darwinists, whereas the Stoics were pantheists, much like modern New Age evolutionists. Both believed in an infinitely old space/time/matter universe, and both rejected the concept of an omnipotent transcendent Creator. On the popular level, both were expressed in terms of polytheism, astrology and spiritism, with the many gods and goddesses essentially being personifications of natural forces and systems. Both would naturally be strongly opposed to Biblical creationist Christianity.