Christianity and Western Thought Hb (v. 1) [Hardcover]

C Brown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1990

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 proposed 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.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An excellent textbook for introductory courses in philosophy and theology." (Christianity Today )

"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." (The Evangelical Quarterly )

"A positive contribution to a Christian understanding of the history of ideas." (Southwestern Journal of Theology )

"A remarkable tour de force done with admirable comprehension and an amazing knowledge of the secondary literature relating to these thinkers." (ADRIS Newsletter ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Apollos (June 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0851117635
• ISBN-13: 978-0851117638
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,627,883 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Colin Brown (DD, University of Nottingham; PhD, University of Bristol) is professor of systematic theology at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena. He is a priest of the Episcopal Church, and has served as associate rector of his parish church for nearly 20 years.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well-balanced, readable, and impressive survey., May 30, 2002

By 

David Marshall - See all my reviews

This review is from: Christianity & Western Thought, Volume 1: From the Ancient World to the Age of Enlightenment (Hardcover)

The reviewer below gives a pretty good summary of the book's contents, so I'll just add my two bits about its quality. C&WT is well-done, balanced, and readable. The author relates the ideas of leading Christian and non-Christian thinkers in a clear style, interjecting his own thoughtful viewpoint with about the right frequency. He treats readers with respect, but has mercy on those of us who find a lot of philosophical discourse a bit esoteric by explaining terms and concepts. None of the book is boring, (to me) because Brown engages his subjects with respect and interest -- this is not an archeological dig in quaint DWM thought. Nor is the book a long editorial. When the author gives his opinion, he sets it clearly apart, and it is cogent and reasonable. Brown not only shows the awesome breadth of knowledge that such an undertaking requires -- charting the ideas of great and famous thinkers from 500 B. C. to 1800 in a single complex story -- he also demonstrates good taste and judgement in dealing with thinkers of such widely differing views and personalities. I appreciated, for example, his rehabilitation of Descartes, the brackets he puts around Hume, his discussion of Pascal, and so on. It seems to me he deals with them all pretty fairly, though of course this book is no substitute for the originals. I hope volume II is as good.

It would be unfair to complain that the book is too narrow in scope. But it may encourage an attitude among Western Christians that I think is. Brown seems to envision "the West" almost hermetically sealed fomm the rest of the world. (As do so many Christians.) For instance, Brown seems to go along with the convention that the Greeks started philosophy too readily. But weren't the Pythagoreans roughly a school of Advetic thought beamed over from India? And don't the Vedas, the Hundred Schools of Zhou-era China, and so on, also have claims to originating philosophy? Or more pertinently -- how about the Wisdomm literature of the Old Testament? What is needed now that Christianity is no longer primarily a Western religion is to connect Christian thought to its roots in world rather than Western (Greek) tradition alone. Can we hope for a volume three in the series?

author, Jesus and the Religions of Man

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Overview, January 27, 2010

By 

Timothy C. Copeland (Dayton, OH United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Christianity & Western Thought, Volume 1: From the Ancient World to the Age of Enlightenment (Hardcover)

Christianity & Western Thought Vol. 1 is an excellent overview of philosophy up to the 1800's.As the title suggests the emphasis is from a Christian perspective, with what the particular person taught,and how his philosophy impacted christianity, good and bad.Its a very easy read considering the topic,as some of the more abstract concepts talked about can be hard to follow,but Brown does a good job overall in explaining them.I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about philosophy(like me) and how that philosophy effects their everyday walk with the Lord.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A kindle review, January 31, 2012

By 

Grant Marshall (Auckland, New Zealand) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Christianity & Western Thought, Volume 1: From the Ancient World to the Age of Enlightenment: 001 (Kindle Edition)

As to the quality of the book I have no real qualms. It is what it says it is - a comprehensive survey of western thought and it's interaction with Christianity up until the end of the enlightenment. I really liked the book and benefited greatly from the survey. I know a lot more about philosophy than I did when I started. However the Kindle experience leaves a lot to be desired. I don't know if it was just my kindle or the way the book was formatted but it was a slow book to read, mostly because every time I tried to highlight a passage it all but froze my kindle for a minute or two. Very frustrating when you've read the page and are waiting for the kindle to unfreeze so you can carry on reading. I also found myself highlighting a lot because the author made so many salient points and had many ripe observations.

The other gripe I had is that while the Table of Contents is all linked up the end notes are not. That means if you are interested in following up a particular point the author made in a chapter you will spend a good 15 minutes trucking through slow loading TOC's, then End notes just to find your particular note. At which point you've probably forgotten what you were looking for in the first place.

The book is excellent, however the Kindle experience leaves a lot to be desired.