Aiming to give students from a wide range of disciplines an essential philosophical understanding of the medieval period, this text leads students through the intellectual problems of medieval thought. It explains the principal lines of argument from Augustine of Hippo to the 16th century. Emphasizing the relationship between reason and faith, the author shows how and why medieval philosophers saw their role as the development of a tradition handed down authoritatively. The book concentrates on key concepts rather than on the philosophers’ biographies.