Colin Brown surveys the thought of over 400 philosophers from the Middle Ages to the present day, showing how various thinkers and ideas have affected Christian belief.
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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.
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26 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Brown provides a fine, brief survey of philosophy from the historical viewpoint. He begins with medieval thinkers, which set the pattern for so much of the thought that followed and still has its affect today. Covering Augustine to Aquinas, it is Augustine who sets the framework for the successors. Brown stresses a good point here, that the Middle Ages were focused not on the physical universe for its sake, but for the sake of the reality behind it. A strange mixture of Christinaity, pagan philosophy and a great portion of Greek philosophy. At the end, comes the major thinker Aquinas with his arguments that natural theology forms the intellectual basis for the philosophical arguments of the church.
Moving to the 16th-18th centuries, Brown shows that this was the cradle for modern thought. Recovery here of world and man for their own sakes, and the Reformation turns away from natural theology to revealed theology. Thus, the development of the rationalists, empiricists, deists and to Kant, this is time of major turning in philosophy. Major directive to modern man's power of reason to understand his world.
Creatively taking tagents off of this is the 19th century world of Schleiermacher, Hegel and Kierkegaard, spurning on the prominent 20th world of Barth, Tillich, Bultmann, etc.
This is a great, general intro to philosophy and its relationship to Christianity. Brown warns against alignment with any particular philosophy too closely, but does see the need and value of the stimulus philosophy provides for Christian thinkers to rethink their position.
Bibliography leans toward British publishing. Great reference is the five-volume "A History of Western Philosophy" by W.T. Jones.
18 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Work Scope:
Dr. Brown starts by introducing his own reflective observations, on the tenuous liaison of philosophy and faith. Both theologians and philosophers had their respective doubts and frustrations. He pursues his goal by surveying the intellectual movements and their western thinkers during the second millennia.
He categorizes his work thus; "Histories of philosophy are not normally designed to be read through in bed, and the present one is not necessarily intended to be read through consecutively."
Views & Conclusions:
Colin Brown exposes an insightful brief survey of alternative philosophical bases of Christian doctrine, that influenced the faith of Christian Churches in the course of history. This is a systematic work of an uncommonly talented, and deeply commited theologian to present an analytical history of philosophy, with an emphasis on the different interpretations of the sustained encounters of the fads and fashions of philosophy with Christian faith. Colin Brown concludes in the postscript with lessons from the past criticizing the incompleteness of philosophical systems. Although he warns against dependence on a particular philosophy, he recognizes the necessity of the philosophy's invigorating inquiry that drives Christian theologians to reconsider their positions.
Unique treatment:
In contrast to his intentional fast tour of medieval philosophy, he already started to interpret Anselm by Barth and Hartshorne. The author gave the Twentieth Century a relative elaborate and critical evaluation of new trends in logical positivism, and religious language before he reviews existentialism in the example of Bultmann and Tillich. He then introduces New Radicalism in Bonhoeffer, before his thorough exposition of J.A.T. Robinson's, Honest to God. He would not refrain from analyzing the 'Death of God' movement, but gives his debut on Cornilius Van Till and Francis Schaeffer.
Biographical note:
Colin Brown (D.D., U. of Nottingham; Ph.D., Bristol University) is professor of systematic theology at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena. He is an Episcopal minister, and has served as Associate Rector of his parish church for decades.
Dr. Brown starts by introducing his own reflective observations, on the tenuous liaison of philosophy and faith. Both theologians and philosophers had their respective doubts and frustrations. He pursues his goal by surveying the intellectual movements and their western thinkers during the second millennia.
He categorizes his work thus; "Histories of philosophy are not normally designed to be read through in bed, and the present one is not necessarily intended to be read through consecutively."
Views & Conclusions:
Colin Brown exposes an insightful brief survey of alternative philosophical bases of Christian doctrine, that influenced the faith of Christian Churches in the course of history. This is a systematic work of an uncommonly talented, and deeply commited theologian to present an analytical history of philosophy, with an emphasis on the different interpretations of the sustained encounters of the fads and fashions of philosophy with Christian faith. Colin Brown concludes in the postscript with lessons from the past criticizing the incompleteness of philosophical systems. Although he warns against dependence on a particular philosophy, he recognizes the necessity of the philosophy's invigorating inquiry that drives Christian theologians to reconsider their positions.
Unique treatment:
In contrast to his intentional fast tour of medieval philosophy, he already started to interpret Anselm by Barth and Hartshorne. The author gave the Twentieth Century a relative elaborate and critical evaluation of new trends in logical positivism, and religious language before he reviews existentialism in the example of Bultmann and Tillich. He then introduces New Radicalism in Bonhoeffer, before his thorough exposition of J.A.T. Robinson's, Honest to God. He would not refrain from analyzing the 'Death of God' movement, but gives his debut on Cornilius Van Till and Francis Schaeffer.
Biographical note:
Colin Brown (D.D., U. of Nottingham; Ph.D., Bristol University) is professor of systematic theology at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena. He is an Episcopal minister, and has served as Associate Rector of his parish church for decades.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I utilized this in seminary and found it very useful. Brown's review of the history of philosophy and critiques thereof are not overly authoritative. This book is an easy read for the non-philosopher or novice. It was broad in its reach but it could not plunge deep enough due to its format. If you are looking for a quick trustworthy reference from a Christian perspective, this is a must.
Dr. Brown covers many of the important philosophers in history. Brown even provides short coverage of Van Til and Schaeffer (quotes Van Til: "The existence of the God of Christian theism is presupposed by all rational thought and behavior"). This is a good book for a beginner or a seminary student.
Presuppositions are important and Brown reminds readers that "Calvin compared scripture with spectacles which put things into focus."
Chapters include:
- Metaphysics
- Greek philosophy
- Aquinas
- Reformation thought
- 19th century philosophy
- 20th century philosophy
- Christianity and philosophy
- and much more.
Brown offers fine definitions such as: "Rationalism has come to mean the attempt to judge everything in the light of reason."
This is a very simple, but profound volume; easy to read for the layman and a fine resource for the scholar.
see the apologetic book that uses Christian philosophy:
Truth, Knowledge and the Reason for God: The Defense of the Rational Assurance of Christianity
Dr. Brown covers many of the important philosophers in history. Brown even provides short coverage of Van Til and Schaeffer (quotes Van Til: "The existence of the God of Christian theism is presupposed by all rational thought and behavior"). This is a good book for a beginner or a seminary student.
Presuppositions are important and Brown reminds readers that "Calvin compared scripture with spectacles which put things into focus."
Chapters include:
- Metaphysics
- Greek philosophy
- Aquinas
- Reformation thought
- 19th century philosophy
- 20th century philosophy
- Christianity and philosophy
- and much more.
Brown offers fine definitions such as: "Rationalism has come to mean the attempt to judge everything in the light of reason."
This is a very simple, but profound volume; easy to read for the layman and a fine resource for the scholar.
see the apologetic book that uses Christian philosophy:
Truth, Knowledge and the Reason for God: The Defense of the Rational Assurance of Christianity
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Good intro to Christian philosophy
My favorite part of this book was Colin Browns summary of Christian existentialism. I never knew this was even possible to hold this ideology and be a Christian at the same... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Cornell
Simple but not simplistic
I've owned, read, and reread this book for thirty years. Found myself referring to it again last night. Read more
Published on August 11, 2009 by Mark Kennedy
Why is this awful book still being sold?
Colin Brown, professor of systematic theology at an evangelical institution published this book in 1968 to give a survey of the history of philosophy and its effect on the... Read more
Published on September 30, 2007 by Aquinatis
Great Intro to Philosophical Theology
The author writes that the aim of this book is to make a survey of the main thinkers and intellectual movements of western thought of the past thousand years, with a view to... Read more
Published on August 1, 2007 by A. Blake White
Excellent introduction to philosophy
This book covers the history of philosophical ideas with special emphasis on one of the most important philosophical questions, the existence of God, from the viewpoint of a... Read more
Published on September 1, 1999
Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
Philosophy did not begin with the Middle Ages, but the Middle Ages are a good point to begin an account of philosophy and the Christian faith. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
traditional proofs, new radicalism Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New Testament, New York, Van Til, Karl Barth, Middle Ages, Bertrand Russell, Paul Tillich, Tyndale Press, Logical Positivism, Grand Rapids, Teilhard de Chardin, Old Testament, Thomas Aquinas, World War, United States, Church Dogmatics, Lutterworth Press, Albert Schweitzer, Everyman's Library, Roman Catholic, Alan Richardson, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Paternoster Press, Bishop Robinson New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Philosophy did not begin with the Middle Ages, but the Middle Ages are a good point to begin an account of philosophy and the Christian faith. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
traditional proofs, new radicalism Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New Testament, New York, Van Til, Karl Barth, Middle Ages, Bertrand Russell, Paul Tillich, Tyndale Press, Logical Positivism, Grand Rapids, Teilhard de Chardin, Old Testament, Thomas Aquinas, World War, United States, Church Dogmatics, Lutterworth Press, Albert Schweitzer, Everyman's Library, Roman Catholic, Alan Richardson, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Paternoster Press, Bishop Robinson New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
books:
See all 100 books this book cites
1
book
cites this book:
- Summa Theologiae by St.Thomas Aquinas on 6 pages
- Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone (Torchbooks) by Immanuel Kant on page 92, page 100, and page 103
- Escape From Reason: A Penetrating Analysis Of Trends In Modern Thought by Francis A. Schaeffer on page 260, page 261, and page 264
- Philosophy of Religion (4th Edition) by John H. Hick on page 291, page 292, and page 310
- Paul Tillich by J. H. Thomas on page 192, page 299, and page 302
See all 100 books this book cites
- The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind by Mark A. Noll on page 36
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