There is some evidence that he was a Platonist, as Alexander Wilder puts it: “Pantaenus, Athenagoras and Clement were thoroughly instructed in the Platonic philosophy, and comprehended its essential unity with the Oriental systems”.
[3] Although his work appears to have been well-known and influential, mention of him by other early Christian apologists, notably in the extensive writings of Eusebius, is strangely absent.
Athenagoras was also an early Christian opponent of the death penalty: "Athenagorus of Athens writes in his apology that: “…we cannot endure even to see a man put to death, though justly…”[7] Of his writings, there have been preserved but a few: his Embassy (πρεσβεία) for the Christians (more usually called by the Latin titled Legatio Pro Christianis or simply the Legatio and often referred to as the Apology), and a treatise titled the Resurrection of the Dead a.k.a.
[4] Assuming then the defensive, he justifies the Christian abstention from worship of the national deities by arguing that it is absurd and indecent, quoting at length the pagan poets and philosophers in support of his contention.
Finally, he meets the charges of immorality by exposing the Christian ideal of purity, even in thought, and the inviolable sanctity of the marriage bond.