From Socrates and the Sophists to Kant, from Augustine to Aquinas and the Reformers, Colin Brown traces the turbulent, often tension filled, always fascmating story of the thinkers, ideastand movements that have shaped our intellectual landscape. Is philosophy the "handmaiden of faith" or "or the doctrine of demons"? Does it clarty 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 geta 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