This important book by a distinguished historian of ancient philosophy argues that early Christian thinkers such as Justin Martyr, Irenaeus of Lyon, Clement and Origen of Alexandria, and Gregory of Nyssa have to be taken seriously as philosophers in their own right. Karamanolis does not include Augustine and although he gives reasons for this decision (pp. 1–2), this reviewer regrets it. Karamanolis avoids discussing previous attempts to profile early Christian and Hellenistic philosophies: his polyglot bibliography omits Pierre Hadot's classic Qu'est-ce que la philosophie antique (Paris 1995; English translation Cambridge–Ma 2004). Nor does Karamanolis mention Theo Kobusch's more recent contribution Christliche Philosophie: die Entdeckung der Subjektivität (Darmstadt 2006), but he has listed a relevant paper by the same author. It would, in any case, be churlish to ask Karamanolis for more when he is offering so much of such excellent quality. Karamanolis criticises two views of early Christian philosophy as equally seriously deficient: on the one hand it is often conceived of as the mere ‘appropriation and recasting of the pagan philosophical material’ (p. 239); on the other hand it is often contrasted with pagan philosophical thinking. The fact that Christians took their cue from Scripture is – Karamanolis believes – no reason to deny them the title of `philosophers': after all, Platonists relied on the authority of Plato in the same way. Moreover, Christians did not use the Bible as a book offering ready-made solutions to intractable philosophical questions. Rather, they read Scripture in search for hints that they developed into a variety of properly reasoned philosophical views. Disagreement about the correct interpretation of Scripture remained possible. Karamanolis starts with the difficult definition of Christian philosophy, its aims and methods within the spectrum of Hellenistic philosophical schools (pp. 29–59). He demonstrates a great deal of divergence but also notes the attempt of Christian philosophy to proclaim itself as something different from, and superior to, other philosophies. For example, Justin, Tatian or Clement laid claim to Hebrew wisdom and argued that Hellenic wisdom is but an adulterated copy of it (p. 45). Chapter ii deals with Christian physics and metaphysics (pp. 60–116), that is, Christian views on first principles and the origin of the world. He traces the development and the difficulties of the Christian doctrine of creation as formulated by, for example, Justin Martyr, Tatian, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria and Origen. The Christians were invariably keen on defending the goodness and rationality of God and his creation. Karamanolis is ever alert to point out possible agreements between Christian and pagan philosophical doctrines: for example, Christian views on matter articulated by Hermogenes or Clement of Alexandria are close to those of contemporary Platonists: matter is neither corporeal nor incorporeal and is devoid of quality and shape (pp. 87–8). Chapter iii (pp. 117–43) deals with logic and epistemology, chapter iv (pp. 144–80) with free will and providence. Karamanolis argues that the Christian notion of a human free will is linked to the Christian notion of God's ‘unconstrained freedom’ in creating the world (p. 145), man being created in the image of God. Unfortunately Karamanolis does not reference sources for this linkage which, prima facie, sounds plausible enough. Karamanolis defines God's unconstrained freedom as entailing (i) the rejection of the notion that the world is a result of necessity, and (ii) the rejection of ’ external exigencies' (for example. those of matter) constraining God's freedom. However, according to early Christian authors, God seems to be, in a way, constrained by his own goodness and justice: God is not free to act against his own nature. Karamanolis demonstrates that early Christian discussions of the free will problem overlap with regard to both terminology and arguments with contemporary discussions in the pagan schools. But he also points out that the Christian arguments are elaborated against a Gnostic (Valentinian) view which allegedly claimed that a class of elite Christians (spirituals /pneumatikoi) on the one hand, and an underclass of wretched reprobates (material people /hylikoi) on the other hand, are destined for, respectively, salvation and perdition (pp. 147f.). Here Karamanolis resolutely ignores all research that has argued that Valentinian anthropology may be a bit more nuanced than the hereseological portraits of Irenaeus of Lyon, Clement of Alexandria and Origen suggest. Chapter v deals with the soul and its relation to the body (pp. 181–213): Karamanolis discusses, amongst other matters, the tripartite anthropology of Justin Martyr, Theophilus and Irenaeus and confronts it with the bipartite anthropology of Tertullian, Clement and Origen. He emphasises that Christians tend to avoid completely negative views of the body, considering it as ‘part of man's identity, which is rational’ (p. 210). Accordingly, Christians defended the resurrection of the body, which is incomprehensible to pagan Platonists such as Celsus or Porphyry. Chapter vi (pp. 214–36) deals with Christian ethics and politics: Karamanolis notes that both Christian and Hellenistic philosophies proclaimed ethics, the art of living a happy life, as the goal of all philosophy. He discusses the claim of the philosopher G. E. M. Anscombe who in a paper published in 1958 maintained that Christian ethics, with its focus on moral obligation to a divine law, seriously distorted the project of philosophical ethics. Karamanolis notes again a lot of convergence between early Christian ethics and the ethics of the Hellenistic schools: widening the narrow focus on the New Testament so as to include later Christian authors such as Clement, Origen and Gregory of Nyssa, one cannot but observe that both sides view ethics within a cosmic perspective, that both traditions proclaim eudaimonia and sôteria as the goal and consider it realised in apatheia, the eradication of the passions (pp. 223, 230). The qualities of this engaging book recommend it to the attention of the general reading public and to students at all levels of competence and learning.