Christianity and Western Thought - by Colin Brown (Paperback)

About the Book

Students, pastors and thoughtful Christians will benefit from this rich resource. The first in a three-volume work, Brown's easy-to-read, hard-to-put-down introduction to Christianity and Western thought focuses on developments from the ancient world to the Age of Enlightenment.

Book Synopsis

From Socrates and the Sophists to Kant, from Augustine to Aquinas and the Reformers, Colin Brown traces the turbulent, often tension-filled, always fascinating story of the thinkers, ideas and movements that have shaped our intellectual landscape. Is philosophy the "handmaiden of faith" or "the doctrine of demons"? Does it clarify the faith or undermine the very heart of Christian belief?Brown writes, "This book is about the changes in preconceptions, world views and paradigms that have affected the ways in which people have thought about religion in general and Christianity in particular in the Western world. . . . It is a historical sketch, written to help students--and anyone else who might be interested--to get a better grasp of the love-hate relationship between philosophy and faith that has gone on for close to two thousand years."Students, pastors and thoughtful Christians will benefit from this rich resource. The first in a three-volume work, Brown's easy-to-read, hard-to-put-down introduction to Christianity and Western thought focuses on developments from the ancient world to the Age of Enlightenment.

Review Quotes

"A positive contribution to a Christian understanding of the history of ideas."

"A remarkable tour de force done with admirable comprehension and an amazing knowledge of the secondary literature relating to these thinkers."

"An excellent textbook for introductory courses in philosophy and theology."

"Written in remarkably clear and helpful style, [Christianity Western Thought] will be an invaluable aid to the reader who wants simply to obtain an overall picture of the philosophical traditions which have fed into and interacted with Christianity over the centuries."

About the Author

Colin Brown is professor of systematic theology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He served as editor of The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and is the author of several books, including Miracles and the Critical Mind, History and Faith, and Jesus in European Protestant Thought.