This unique book is the ideal introduction to the thinkers and writers who have shaped Christian history and Western culture-as well as to the books, documents, statements and creeds they left behind. From the first century to the twentieth, from Palestine via Europe to Asia and Africa, these thinkers speak to us in this book. The primary purpose of this book is to introduce leading thinkers from the past (and present) and to whet the appetite by giving extracts from their writings. With the modern period especially, I have also introduced an element of evaluation as a guide to the reader-thought the primary aim remains to allow the thinkers to speak for themselves and readers to judge for themselves.