This survey study of the contrapuntal or negatively critical developments in Western philosophy and theology points out some of the reasons why the new "radical theology" has arisen in our time. Dr. Cooper writes on the radical theology from a "front row seat"óhe studied under and wrote his Ph.D. dissertation on Paul Tillich, hailed as the "father" of radical theology; and Mircea Eliade, the subject of much of Thomas J. J. Altizer's writings, was also his professor. In the course of his book, Dr. Cooper investigates most of the developments in modern theologyóthe so-called quest for the historical Jesus, the struggle between liberalism and fundamentalism, the demythologizing movement, religionless Christianity, the civil rights struggle, and the "death of God" theology. He discusses all of them in connection with the historical influences that brought them into being. Viewing the radical attempts to recover this sense of transcendence (including Teilhard de Chardin's), Dr. Cooper urges that theology should respond positively and constructively to the "death of God" movement, and concludes that our present theological situation is such that "only the most radical attempts to recover the sense of the sacred...have any chance of success." Originally published by Westminster Press in 1967, this edition contains a new preface.