An adjective/noun identifying a follower of Epicurus (341-270 BC), the Greek philosopher who taught that the highest good is ataraxia (tranquility) and aponia (freedom from pain), achieved through moderate pleasures, friendship, and withdrawal from public life. Epicureans encountered Paul at the Areopagus.
The confrontation between Paul and the Epicureans and Stoics in Acts 17:18 is one of Scripture's most dramatic intellectual encounters. Epicureans lived by 'eat, drink, and be merry' (though Epicurus himself was surprisingly austere). They rejected divine providence, feared death, and denied bodily resurrection — making them the perfect foil for the Gospel of the Risen Christ. When Paul preached resurrection, they called him a 'babbler.' The Holy Spirit is undeterred by philosophical sophistication. The Areopagus sermon remains the model for contextual proclamation: beginning with common ground ('I see you are very religious'), moving to the unknown God, and driving home the inescapable reality of the resurrection and judgment.