From public-policy decisions and world events to theology, the arts, education, and even conversations with friends, history’s most influential ideas affect nearly everything we see, think, and do. Thus, it is critical to understand and take seriously the ideas that are shaping us.

The more familiar we are with the streams of thought that have saturated Western culture through the ages, the greater our ability to influence this culture for Christ. Tracing the contours of Western philosophy from the ancients to the modern thought—including Plato, Aquinas, Descartes, Kant, and Freud—R.C. Sproul helps us understand the ideas that have shaped us so we can have a greater influence in this world for Christ.

About the Author

R. C. Sproul (1939–2017) was founder of Ligonier Ministries, an international Christian discipleship organization located near Orlando, Florida. He was also founding pastor of Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Florida, first president of Reformation Bible College, and executive editor of Tabletalk magazine. His radio program, Renewing Your Mind, is still broadcast daily on hundreds of radio stations around the world and can also be heard online. Sproul contributed dozens of articles to national evangelical publications, spoke at conferences, churches, colleges, and seminaries around the world, and wrote more than one hundred books, including The Holiness of God, Chosen by God, and Everyone’s a Theologian. He also served as general editor of the Reformation Study Bible.