"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.

This passionately argued book provides the first in-depth investigation of the religious politics of current American neo-conservatism. It shows that behind the neo-imperialism of the White House and George W. Bush lies an apocalyptic vision of the United States's sacred destiny "at the end of history," a vision that is shared by millions of Americans. The authors trace the roots of American apocalyptic to Puritan Millennialism and contemporary fundamentalist readings of the Book of Revelation. They suggest that Americans urgently need to recover a critique of Empire of the kind espoused by the founder of Christianity--or else risk becoming idolaters of a new Holy Roman Empire that leads others into servitude.