In his new A History of Western Philosophy and Theology the renowned apologist-philosopher-theologian-author brings together a lifetime of teaching to provide an analysis of the history of Western thought. He approaches the subject as a committed evangelical Christian, working from the Reformed tradition and as a Van Tillian presuppositionalist. Frame surveys the key eras, thinkers, and movements in both theology and philosophy. This work is descriptive but also prescriptive—Frame evaluates, criticizes, and commends. He seeks to outline a biblical worldview and then traces the contours of Western thought and thinkers, analyzing their contributions and testing them against the standard of God’s truth. The result is a book of considerable breadth and depth.
Books At a Glance has produced a Summary of this major work for our members, scheduled to be posted in January. This just a heads up for our readers!
Table of Contents
Foreword by R. Albert Mohler Jr.
Preface
1. Philosophy and the Bible
2. Greek Philosophy
3. Early Christian Philosophy
4. Medieval Philosophy
5. Early Modern Thought
6. Theology in the Enlightenment
7. Kant and His Successors
8. Nineteenth-Century Theology
9. Nietzsche, Pragmatism, Phenomenology, and Existentialism
10. Twentieth-Century Liberal Theology, Part 1
11. Twentieth-Century Liberal Theology, Part 2
12. Twentieth-Century Language Philosophy
13. Recent Christian Philosophy
Appendix A: “Certainty”
Appendix B: “Infinite Series”
Appendix C: “Ontological Argument”
Appendix D: “Transcendental Arguments”
Appendix E: “Determinism, Chance, and Freedom”
Appendix F: “Self-Refuting Statements”
Appendix G: “Unregenerate Knowledge of God”
Appendix H: “God and Biblical Language: Transcendence and Immanence”
Appendix I: “Scripture Speaks for Itself”
Appendix J: Review of The Legacy of Logical Positivism 8
Appendix K: Review of New Essays on Religious Language
Appendix L: Review of Paul M. Van Buren, The Edges of Language
Appendix M: Review of Paul L. Holmer, The Grammar of Faith
Appendix N: “Ogden on Theology”
Appendix O: Review of Paul Helm, Belief Policies
Appendix P: Review of Esther Lightcap Meek, Longing to Know
Appendix Q: “Christianity and Contemporary Epistemology”
Appendix R: “Reply to Gordon H. Clark”
Appendix S: Review of Herbert Schlossberg, Idols for Destruction
Appendix T: “Van Til Reconsidered”
Glossary
Annotated Bibliography of Philosophy Texts
Endorsements:
D.A. Carson
When I was a young man, I plowed through Bertrand Russell’s 1945 classic, A History of Western Philosophy. A couple of years ago I read the much shorter (and more interesting) work of Luc Ferry, A Brief History of Thought. Between these two I have become familiar with many histories of Western thought, each written out of deep commitments, some acknowledged, some not. But I have never read a history of Western thought quite like John Frame’s. Professor Frame unabashedly tries to think through sources and movements out of the framework (bad pun intended) of deep-seated Christian commitments, and invites his readers to do the same. These commitments, combined with the format of a seminary or college textbook, will make this work invaluable to students and pastors who tire of ostensible neutrality that is no more neutral than the next volume. Agree or disagree with some of his arguments, but John Frame will teach you how to think in theological and philosophical categories.
J.I. Packer
John Frame has done it again! In the lucid and comprehensive style of his Theology of Lordship volumes, he here presents a full overview of Western thought about knowledge of God as it must appear to all who receive Holy Scripture, as he does, as the record, product, and present reality of God speaking. And the solid brilliance of the narrative makes it a most effective advocacy for the Kuyper-Van Til perspective that in a well-digested form it represents. It is a further outstanding achievement by John Frame. The book deserves wide use as a textbook, and I hope it will achieve that. My admiration for John’s work grows and grows.
John Piper
Few in our day champion a vision of God that is as massive, magnificent, and biblical as John Frame’s. For decades, he has given himself to the church, to his students, and to meticulous thinking and the rigorous study of the Bible. He has winsomely, patiently, and persuasively contended for the gospel in the secular philosophical arena, as well as in the thick of the church worship wars and wrestlings with feminism and open theism. He brings together a rare blend of big-picture thinking, levelheaded reflection, biblical fidelity, a love for the gospel and the church, and the ability to write with care and clarity.
Fred Zaspel
Buy the books
A History of Western Philosophy and Theology