When we forget, we run the risk of reinventing the wheel. Jamaica in the 21st Century: Revisiting the 1st Decade is a challenge and a reminder, lest we forget what ground has been covered in Jamaica's social, political and religious life, particularly at the onset of the 21st century. Trawling through public discourse and debates in Jamaica, the book distills and surfaces the main issues that captured the attention of the public: gambling, homosexuality and human sexuality, education, crime, violence, the church and politics, to name a few. Many of the issues that preoccupy us at this time are issues that have been addressed before. It might be of use to familiarise ourselves with the earlier discussion. This book then is a sort of archaeological and socio-historical enterprise, designed to aid memory and, if possible, to help us see the progress we have made and avoid reinvention of the wheel.

Beginning with the presupposition that Christians and Muslims will forever be living side-by-side, this work is an attempt to face squarely the question of what Christians can truly say about Islam. Recognizing the differences in doctrinal emphases in Christianity, a critical methodology is that the argument is developed from the point of view of a particular Christian communion, so as to give concreteness to the argument. Such a communion has to be carefully chosen in order to find acceptability across the whole spectrum of the Christian faith. To a large extent the relationship between Christians and Muslims is characterized by mutual ignorance of those things that are essential to their faiths. That ignorance is also reinforced by media depictions of half-truths or untruths. A Formula for Conversation looks at the doctrines that both communities consider non-negotiable. It is the possibility of being able to say something of Islam that the Muslim would be happy to accept and that Christians can identify with that creates a moment for dialogue.