The lands where Muslims, Jews, and Christians have encountered each other are littered with the ruins of fortresses. Each faith community built barriers to keep out the enemies of their faith. The present studies look at the barriers erected by peoples considered resistant to the gospel, and the bridges God is using to carry the gospel to them.

Latest volume in series devoted to Goethe criticism (and studies of his contemporaries), with an extensive book review section.

Much has been written of the 'success' of the early missions to Japan during the decades immediately following the arrival of the first Jesuits in 1549. The subsequent 'failure' of the faith to put down roots strong enough to survive this initial wave of enthusiasm is discussed with equal alacrity. The papers in this volume, born of a Conference marking the centenary of the Japan Society of London, represent an attempt to reassess the contact between Christianity and Japan in terms of a symbiotic relationship, a dialogue in which the impact of Japan on the imported religion is viewed alongside the more frequently cited influence of Christianity on Japanese society. Here is a dynamic cultural encounter, examined by the papers in this volume from a series of political, literary and historical perspectives.