The essays in this collection were written between 1974 and 1987. As will be evident from a cursory inspection of this book's contents, I have changed or modified my positions on a number of important issues. These changes have generally been the result of conversations and correspondence with many individuals. I am particularly grateful to John Hick, who has been unfailing in his kindness from the time I began my graduate studies under his supervision in 1972. Nearly every topic discussed in this book has featured on Hick's intellectual agenda at some stage, and although our disagreements are substantial, it would be impossible for me to deny that my own work has grown out of a strenuous engagement with various aspects of Hick's oeuvre. I am also indebted to the following for valuable discussions relating to one or more of the essays contained herein: Gavin D'Costa, David Ford, Stephen Fowl, Hans Frei, Stanley Hauerwas, Brian Hebblethwaite, C. T. Hughes III, Werner Jeanrond, Greg Jones, Nicholas Lash, Gerard Loughlin and Rowan Williams. I owe an even greater debt to John Milbank, who has been unfailingly effective as a conversation partner. Needless to say, my helpers are not responsible for any flaws that remain.

The writing of the previously unpublished essays in this collection was facilitated by a period of sabbatical leave spent as a visiting scholar at St Edmund's College, Cambridge, and the Faculty of Theology at Oxford.