Bringing Into Captivity Every Thought Capita Selecta in the History of christian Evaluations of Non-Christian Philosophy

Lanham, New York, London: University Press of America. Good with no dust jacket. 1992. Softcover. 0819178284 . 272. Index of Persons. Includes bibliographical references. Paper covers with purple, red and white angular shapes, covers bit rubbed, corners curling. Interior some corner curl as well, marginalia, underlining, most in pencil but some in pen - moderate in some sections, none in others. Still usable, just not very pretty. What Clement of Alexandria, Calvin of Geneva and Gutierrez of Peru, and all the other thinkers discussed in this book have in common is at least this: they all bear witness to their struggle with the relation between Christian faith and non-Christian thought. This relation is the theme of the collection of essays presented here by way of case studies. The struggle of the early church with the philosophy of the late antiquity was one of life and death. Faced with a despising Greco-Roman elite, Christians were forced to take a stand with respect to the Greek mind very existentially. As Christianity gained influence in the highly developed intellectual culture of the Roman Empire, the church wavered between acceptance and rejection of that culture. Such hesitance between antithesis and synthesis also marked the church in the Middle Ages. The tensions left a wide track of power struggles. How did Christians throughout the ages, actually find their way through the tension-fraught terrain of faith and culture? The issue far surpasses mere academic or historical interest: we ourselves are involved, and we are unable not to choose.; 9.0 X 6.0 X 1.0 inches; 272 pages .