This chapter sets the conceptual and methodological stage for the book by challenging conventional disciplinary boundaries in the history of philosophy. It argues for a broad understanding of philosophical inquiry that includes religion, literature, and lived practice. The chapter critiques the dominance of argument-based historiography, stemming from Descartes, Brucker, and the nineteenth-century research university model, which privileged metaphysics and epistemology over ethics and the art of living. It outlines a corrective vision that foregrounds genre, orality, and the performative dimensions of philosophy. Christianity is shown to be not only compatible with philosophy but also a key medium through which ancient philosophical ideas were preserved, transformed, and popularized. The chapter highlights neglected periods, especially late antiquity, and insists on the importance of reading ancient thinkers – Plato, Augustine, Paul – on their own terms and in their own genres. It advocates for a generous, contextually informed reading practice that sees philosophical ideas as part of a long conversation across centuries. Ultimately, this chapter positions the book as a work of retrieval that seeks to restore the breadth and spiritual seriousness of ancient and late ancient philosophical traditions.