In writing this book I have incurred and realized many debts, several of which go back a long time before I began writing it. Professor Nicholas Boyle of Magdalene College, Cambridge sowed the seeds of an interest in the presence of truth in language which goes back to my student days. My lifelong friend Paul Smith and his work with the British Council exemplify the communication between persons, preceding and yet enabling communication between cultures, which is the major concern of Humboldt’s work and the central theme of this book. My friendship with Andrew Fineron has likewise informed its argument, especially through a long walk in the Englischer Garten in Munich in which he pointed out to me the difference between conceptual and experiential understanding of the difference between cultures and religions. Dr. David Fowler, a great social historian, has consistently taught me the relevance of history as it is actually lived. Professor Mary Orr of the University of St Andrews and Dr. Ian Cooper of the University of Kent kindled my interest in Humboldt and the sacramental dimension of language, which has been greatly extended by my participation in a Scriptural Reasoning group of Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Cambridge. My work at Birkbeck College, London— the most multicultural and multifaith environment I have ever experienced— nourished the real roots of what over the last few years has become a specifically academic concern. I am especially indebted to my friendship there with Dr. Alexander Weber and Dr Nicolette David over the past twenty-five years.

I am grateful to the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst for providing the opportunity for a very stimulating visit in 2018 to the Marc Bloch Zentrum of the Humboldt Universität, Berlin, where I was made welcome by Professor Markus Messling and was also able to consult Professor Jürgen Trabant, the leading Humboldt scholar in the German-speaking world. Professor Marko Pajević of the University of Tartu in Estonia was a most attentive and helpful reader of my manuscript, and Jim Walker, Editorial Director at Boydell and Brewer, an exemplary and encouraging editor.