This reader-friendly, basic introduction maps the central ideas of the major theologians of the 20th century. Beginning with the tatters of Europe after World War I, the authors deftly survey a myriad of Christian theologians. These theologians have responded creatively to the steep challenges to faith in this tumultuous century - from Karl Barth's "No!" to Reinhold Niebuhr's Christian realism, from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's "religionless Christianity" to Rosemary Radford Ruether's feminist liberation theology. Easily accessible to both the theological student and the inquiring lay reader, this succinct and reliable guide opens doors to some of the most profound religious insights of our time.