"Building a Better Bridge" is a record of the fourth 'Building Bridges' seminar held in Sarajevo in 2005 as part of an annual symposium on Muslim-Christian relations cosponsored by Georgetown University and the Archbishop of Canterbury. This volume presents the texts of the public lectures with regional presentations on issues of citizenship, religious believing and belonging, and the relationship between government and religion-both from the immediate situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina and from three contexts further afield: Britain, Malaysia, and West Africa.Both Christian and Muslim scholars propose key questions to be faced in addressing the issue of the common good. How do we approach the civic sphere as believers in particular faiths and as citizens of mixed societies? What makes us who we are, and how do our religious and secular allegiances relate to one another? How do we accommodate our commitment to religious values with acknowledgement of human disagreement, and how can this be expressed in models of governance and justice? How are we, mandated by scriptures to be caretakers, to respond to the current ecological and economic disorder of our world? Michael Ipgrave and his contributors do not claim to provide definitive answers to these questions, but rather they further a necessary dialogue and show that, while Christian and Islamic understandings of God may differ sharply and perhaps irreducibly, the acknowledgement of one another as people of faith is the surest ground on which to build trust, friendship, and cooperation.

"Humanity: Texts and Contexts" is a record of the 2007 Singapore "Building Bridges" seminar, an annual dialogue between Muslim and Christian scholars cosponsored by Georgetown University and the Archbishop of Canterbury. This volume explores three central questions: What does it mean to be human? What is the significance of the diversity that is evident among human beings? And what are the challenges that humans face living within the natural world?

A distinguished group of scholars focuses on the theological responses to each of these questions, drawing on the wealth of material found in both Christian and Islamic scriptures. Part one lays out the three issues of human identity, difference, and guardianship. Part two explores scriptural texts side by side, pairing Christian and Islamic scholars who examine such themes as human dignity, human alienation, human destiny, humanity and gender, humanity and diversity, and humanity and the environment. In addition to contributions from an international cast of outstanding scholars, the book includes an afterword by Archbishop Rowan Williams.

In April 2003, Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, convened a group of twenty-five leading Christian and Muslim scholars for three days of theological dialogue. Scriptures in Dialogue presents a record of this seminar, held in Doha at the invitation of the Amir of Qatar. The focus of this gathering was the study of passages from the Qur'an and the Bible. Combining scholarship at the highest level with commitment to the practice of their faiths in the modern world, the participants addressed questions such as discernment of the Word of God, the place of women in their believing communities, and making space for the religious 'Other'. At a time when the world's attention was fixed on the conflict in Iraq, this inter faith gathering was also a hopeful sign of the deepening of the dialogue between Christians and Muslims which is so important for both faith communities today. It includes: Papers by Vincent Cornell, Basit Koshul, Esther Mombo, Mona Siddiqui, Tim Winter, Tom Wright and Francis Young. Substantial summaries of the discussions. Brief reflections from participants on the place of scripture in their own lives as believers. A major lecture on inter faith relations given by Rowan Williams in Birmingham shortly after the seminar.

"Justice and Rights" is a record of the fifth "Building Bridges" seminar held in Washington, DC in 2006 (an annual symposium on Muslim-Christian relations cosponsored by Georgetown University and the Church of England). This volume examines justice and rights from Christian and Muslim perspectives -- a topic of immense relevance for both faiths in the modern world, but also with deep roots in the core texts of both traditions.

Leading scholars examine three topics: scriptural foundations, featuring analyses of Christian and Muslim sacred texts; evolving traditions, exploring historical issues in both faiths with an emphasis on religious and political authority; and the modern world, analyzing recent and contemporary contributions from Christianity and Islam in the area of freedom and human rights.

In inter faith relations, the Trinity is often seen as an embarrassing or irrelevant problem. This study proposes a different approach, seeing Trinitarian thought as a resource for dialogue. Drawing on the suggestions of Paul Tillich and Raimundo Panikkar, the author identifies six key issues to be addressed in Trinitarian dialogue. These are traced in two historical examples: the encounters of patristic Christianity with Greek philosophical religion, and of medieval Christianity with Islam. The final chapter draws lessons from these experiences to suggest a reshaping of Christian dialogue with Hindus, Muslims and other people of faith.

In inter faith relations, the Trinity is often seen as an embarrassing or irrelevant problem. This study proposes a different approach, seeing Trinitarian thought as a resource for dialogue. Drawing on the suggestions of Paul Tillich and Raimundo Panikkar, the author identifies six key issues to be addressed in Trinitarian dialogue. These are traced in two historical examples: the encounters of patristic Christianity with Greek philosophical religion, and of medieval Christianity with Islam. The final chapter draws lessons from these experiences to suggest a reshaping of Christian dialogue with Hindus, Muslims and other people of faith.